My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 496 New Explosives

When Zhong Zhenji's petition arrived in the capital, it caused another stir, and everyone's attention turned to Songjiang Prefecture.

The political center of Southern Zhili was naturally Nanjing, but in terms of economy, Suzhou and Songjiang were undoubtedly the leaders.

The request from Songjiang Prefecture to levy commercial taxes, even if it is only in Shanghai County and not the entire Songjiang Prefecture, would be enough to alarm the imperial court.

This is nothing like the commercial taxes levied in Yangzhou and Changzhou before.

Although Shanghai was a county, its jurisdiction included Wusongkou, an important seaport and the starting point of the Wusong Railway. The imposition of commercial taxes here was equivalent to imposing commercial taxes in the heart of Southern Zhili.

What shocked the imperial court even more was that the Xu family of Songjiang was unusually quiet.

How exactly did Chung Jeong-gil manage to do that?
However, Zhong Zhenji's petition quickly gained the support of the cabinet and was then personally delivered to the palace by the Grand Secretary Gao Gong and the Second Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng.

This time, the Longqing Emperor did not object and immediately approved the petition to establish a patrol and inspection office in Shanghai County and to levy commercial taxes.

The matter was handled so quickly that officials in the southeast did not have time to object.

In reality, their opposition was futile. This petition was initiated by Songjiang Prefecture itself, and even the gentry of Songjiang Prefecture did not stand up to oppose it, so what were others opposing it for?
Su Ze kept the name Zhong Zhenji in mind; it seems this prefect of Songjiang is quite a talent.

Regardless of whether he was a political opportunist, his insight into the current situation was remarkable. At this time, he launched a petition and levied commercial taxes in Shanghai County, catching the gentry of Songjiang Prefecture off guard.

Of course, merely imposing a levy in name only is not enough.

The establishment of the Shanghai Inspection Office is a real achievement if it can truly collect all the commercial taxes on goods shipped out of Wusongkou.

The gentry of Songjiang Prefecture were only temporarily afraid to confront the government because of the Rishengchang incident.

Once this period is over, the real test for Shanghai Customs will begin.

Then we'll see just how valuable this Prefect Zhong really is.

If he can really collect taxes from the Shanghai customs, the imperial court will naturally not hesitate to promote him.
-
Just then, a young man dressed in a new military uniform suddenly arrived at the Fifth Office of the Secretariat.

Mu Changyou, the head of the Public Security Bureau, was eager to see Su Ze.

Upon arriving at Su Ze's public housing, Mu Changyou quickly said:

"Chief Prosecutor Su, an explosion has occurred at the Ministry of Works' gunpowder factory outside the city!"

Su Ze quickly stood up and looked at Mu Changyou, asking:

Was the explosion serious? Did it cause a fire?

Mu Changyou quickly said:
"It has been determined that the explosion occurred at a test site within the gunpowder factory premises, which is a considerable distance from the gunpowder workshop. The fire from the explosion did not spread to the gunpowder factory."

Su Ze breathed a sigh of relief; he had thought the Wanggongchang explosion had happened ahead of schedule.

But Su Ze became puzzled again. If it was just a small explosion, why would Mu Changyou report it to him?

Mu Changyou said:
"Prosecutor Su, the test site where this explosion occurred belongs to Scholar Tao of the Royal Practical Society. It is said that Scholar Tao was at the test site when the explosion happened."

Hearing this, Su Ze's face turned ugly, and he immediately said:
"Let's go! To the testing ground!"

Scholar Tao, of course, refers to Tao Guan.

After the establishment of the Royal Academy of Practical Learning, Tao Guan became a scholar. He was a close advisor to the Crown Prince and was greatly favored by him.

That's why when his deputy, Li Fuquan, reported that an explosion had occurred at the gunpowder factory and that Tao Guan was at the epicenter of the explosion, Mu Changyou was so frightened that his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

There was nothing he could do; after all, he was the head of the Public Security Bureau.

The Public Security Bureau was responsible for urban management and fire prevention in the capital and surrounding areas, which fell within its jurisdiction.

Fortunately, the test site itself was prepared for fire prevention, and the fire was extinguished before the police rescue team arrived.

But if Tao Guan were to suffer any harm in the explosion, Mu Changyou would not want to become the target of the Crown Prince's wrath.

With nowhere else to turn, he had no choice but to seek out Su Ze.

Hearing that Su Ze was going in person, Mu Changyou finally felt relieved. As long as Su Ze was present, the Crown Prince would not take his anger out on the Public Security Bureau.

Thinking of this, Mu Changyou felt even more regretful. Why did he insist on taking on the job of the Public Security Bureau back then? Not only did he offend many people, but he also shouldered such a heavy responsibility.

When Su Ze arrived at the gunpowder factory, he finally received some good news.

Tao Guan is alright!

Of course, "unharmed" means that Tao Guan was not torn to pieces, but one of his ears was blown off, his face was charred, and most of his eyebrows and beard were burned off.

Seeing Tao Guan like this on the spot, Su Ze was both angry and amused, and also felt a sense of lingering fear.

What's infuriating is that he made such a huge commotion and almost blew himself up.

What's funny is his comical appearance. This guy is also a bit lucky; he didn't lose any limbs despite such a huge explosion.

What's frightening is that, thankfully, after the white phosphorus incident, Su Ze insisted that Tao Guan conduct experiments outside the city and shut down his laboratory in Xiyuan.

If this explosion had occurred in the West Garden, or if Crown Prince Zhu Yijun had been present, the matter would have become a huge scandal.

Upon seeing Su Ze, Tao Guan showed no lingering fear of escaping death, but instead rushed towards Su Ze with excitement.

"It's done! It's really done!"

Su Ze looked at Tao Guan and took a half step back in fright, thinking that Tao Guan's brain had been blown out of shape.

Mu Changyou, who had been waiting for his chance to shine, stepped forward and stopped Tao Guan.

Tao Guan then realized his appearance was indecent, but he still spoke loudly to Su Ze:

"Su Hanlin! Oil-fried salt! An even more powerful explosive is ready!"

Upon hearing this, Su Ze quickly stepped forward and asked Tao Guan:

"Scholar Tao, what exactly is 'oil-fried salt'?"

Tao Guan was stunned for a moment. He only saw Su Ze open his mouth, but he couldn't hear any sound.

Su Ze guessed that Tao Guan had injured his ear in the explosion, and quickly said to Mu Changyou beside him:

"Go quickly and fetch the imperial physician."

Tao Guan's hearing seemed to have recovered somewhat, and he quickly said:
"No need! I can hear you!"

Tao Guan shouted to his assistant, who had also escaped the disaster:
"Bring the things up here quickly!"

Upon hearing Tao Guan's order, the assistants were terrified. They looked at Su Ze and quickly said:
"Scholar! You must not try again!"

"You saw the explosion just now! This 'oil' is extremely dangerous; it explodes as soon as it touches a flame, and even a slight vibration can cause it to explode! Your ears..."

"Prosecutor Su is here. What should we do if another explosion occurs?"

The assistants present refused to try again, arguing that if Su Ze were killed in the explosion, the emperor and the crown prince would likely exterminate their entire families.

Tao Guan said in a low voice:
"Shut up!"

"Su Hanlin will definitely understand the significance of this item!"

Seeing that his assistant refused to help and even hid the experimental materials, Tao Guan could only say:
"Su Hanlin, this thing doesn't need an open flame! It only needs a red-hot substance! Its power is concentrated and explodes rapidly! This is the true foundation of 'Heaven-Shattering Thunder'!" Su Ze's mind raced. Isn't this nitroglycerin?
Did Tao Guan actually create this?

But upon closer inspection, this thing isn't actually that difficult.

The Ming Dynasty had long been able to mass-produce nitric acid, and sulfuric acid had long been industrially produced using the lead chamber process.

Nitroglycerin can be obtained by adding concentrated nitric acid and concentrated hydrochloric acid to glycerol.

Su Ze did mention to Tao Guan that he hoped to obtain more powerful gunpowder.

The power of gunpowder was still too low.

Zhang Yuanbian had previously written that he wanted to dredge the Three Gorges waterway, but the reefs and shoals in the waterway were beyond his control, and even gunpowder could not break them open.

Su Ze replied to Zhang Yuanbian, saying that the power of gunpowder was still insufficient, and that if a more powerful gunpowder could be invented in the future, it would be able to blast open these reefs and shoals.

Because of this letter, Su Ze mentioned it briefly when lecturing the Crown Prince: there must be explosives in the world that are more powerful than gunpowder.

I don't know if it was just something Little Fatty Jun casually mentioned to Tao Guan, but he actually managed to pull it off.

Mu Changyou, who was standing next to the two, was dumbfounded.

No, are there really palm-sized grenades in this world?

If one of these two people were a scholar from the Royal Academy of Sciences and the other was the renowned Su Ze, Mu Changyou would still think that someone had set a trap for him, and it would be the most despicable kind of trap at that.

The imperial physician arrived shortly afterward.

Clearly, this wasn't the first time Tao Guan had gotten into trouble. The imperial physician in charge was already quite familiar with him, and immediately had his apprentices hold Tao Guan down and begin treating the wound on his head, cleaning, applying medicine, and bandaging it.

Tao Guan gasped in pain, but he was still trying his best to sell his new gunpowder to Su Ze.

Su Ze said:

"Scholar Tao, if this gunpowder is so unstable, how can it be used in actual combat?"

"Even if it's not used in actual combat, it can't be transported for engineering purposes."

Hearing this, Tao Guan was also stunned.

Su Ze knew that given Tao Guan's personality, he would probably continue to tinker, and Su Ze was also afraid that he would be blown up, so he had no choice but to reveal the answer in advance. Su Ze said:
"Scholar Tao, could you study how to stabilize this gunpowder? Perhaps by adding something? Like earth? Thunder strikes the earth; isn't that in accordance with the laws of nature?"

Tao Guan nodded repeatedly after hearing this, eager to get up and experiment immediately, but was held down by the imperial physician beside him.

At this moment, one of Tao Guan's apprentices said:
"But Scholar Tao did not conduct any experiments on the oil-fried salt today."

Tao Guan also nodded and said:
"Yes, today we were just preparing concentrated acid, why did it suddenly explode?"

"Wait..." While bandaging, Tao Guan's gaze suddenly fell on his cotton apron, which was ripped apart and stained with various acids. One corner of the apron had an irregular patch of charred black, with grayish-white powdery edges.

He struggled to tear off the charred piece of cloth and rubbed the grayish-white powder between his fingers. The texture was unusually fine, unlike the ash from burning ordinary cotton cloth.

A thought flashed through my mind like lightning.

"Quick! Get me a clean cotton cloth! Pure cotton! And get me some concentrated acid!"

Ignoring the imperial physician's advice, Tao Guan gave a hoarse command, his eyes gleaming with an even brighter light than when he discovered nitroglycerin.

Although the assistants were confused, they all looked at Su Ze.

Is this a sign that nitrocellulose has been discovered? Su Ze nodded, pulled Mu Changyou back, and then said to Tao Guan:
"Scholar Tao, you must be careful, otherwise I will not be able to explain to the Crown Prince."

After the imperial physician finished treating the wound, he hurriedly ran away. At this time, his assistant had already brought the tools and materials.

Despite the excruciating pain, Tao Guan performed the procedure himself.

He carefully immersed a small piece of pure cotton cloth into a mixture of concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid.

The cotton fabric was quickly soaked and discolored.

He watched intently, silently counting the time.

A moment later, it was removed with specially made long-handled glass pliers and quickly plunged into a large basin of clean water to rinse repeatedly and wash away the residual strong acid.

Finally, a piece of white fabric that looked no different from ordinary cotton cloth was taken out and drained.

Tao Guan held his breath, placed the treated cotton on an iron plate, and then picked up the red-hot iron skewer again.

This time, he didn't approach, but instead aimed the red-hot tip of the probe at the cotton cloth from a distance.

"Tsk-!"

There was no violent explosion as expected.

That seemingly ordinary piece of cotton cloth seemed to be ignited by an invisible fire the moment the red-hot needle tip touched it!
Without an open flame or smoke, it turned into a tiny, extremely fine clump of ashes that burned away instantly at an astonishing speed, almost silently!

Its burning speed and thoroughness far exceeded that of ordinary cotton cloth!

Tao Guan stood there dumbfounded, then burst into laughter:

"Hahaha... Hahaha! Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! This thing ignites upon contact with fire, burning quickly without exploding! 'Fireball'! Let's call it 'Fireball'!"

Tao Guan looked at Su Ze and quickly asked, "Su Hanlin, did you see it?"

It really is nitrocellulose!

Tao Guan said:

"I didn't do the oil-fried salt experiment today. I just prepared concentrated acid, but I accidentally spilled some, so I wiped it up with my apron."

"This apron contains cotton, which is why it has this kind of fire cotton."

"It's likely that the collodion was ignited by a spark, which then ignited other compounds in the lab, causing the explosion and fire."

Tao Guan keenly realized that the combustion characteristics of this guncotton treated with strong acid were completely different from the violent explosion of nitroglycerin, but it also contained enormous energy and potential.

The imperial physician looked at the scholar, whose head was still half-wrapped in a blood-soaked white cloth, yet who was so excited about the new discovery that he was gesturing wildly. He shook his head helplessly and sighed, his eyes filled with awe and worry.

This job, which I've learned, is probably one that requires risking your life.
The imperial physician had originally hoped to secure a place in the Practical Learning Society, but now he completely gave up on that idea.

Tao Guan, however, disregarded everything else and urgently instructed his assistant: "Quick! Take these two things... carefully! Extremely carefully! Seal them up! Record all the steps, proportions, and phenomena observed today!"

The smell of burnt powder and sulfur lingered in the ruins of the test site after the gunpowder factory explosion. Mu Changyou, the head of the Public Security Bureau, stood pale-faced to one side, watching Tao Guan, who seemed to have gone mad.

"Mr. Su! It's done! It's really done!" Tao Guan's voice was hoarse, yet trembling with excitement. "These two substances are incredibly powerful, far surpassing gunpowder by ten times! A hundred times! 'Oil-exploding salt' explodes upon contact with red, pulverizing stones and shattering gold! 'Fireworks' ignite upon contact with fire, turning to ashes in an instant, its speed unparalleled, its flames smokeless!"

"Scholar Tao!" Su Ze's voice suddenly rose, and he spoke with unusual sternness:
“If this place weren’t so far from the heart of the workshop, I would be here today to collect your corpse! What’s worse, if this explosion had occurred in the West Garden and disturbed His Highness, you would be guilty of a thousand deaths!”

Mu Changyou subconsciously took another half step back, completely intimidated by Su Ze's aura.

Su Ze said, "These two things have enormous potential, but their nature is untamed and extremely dangerous! Before their stability, controllability, and safety are thoroughly improved, we must not rashly put them into practical use!"

"Only when you put reins on them will you have achieved your goal, Scholar Tao!"

(End of this chapter)