Bright Sword: Starting from the Improved Grenade

The newly built all-wooden arsenal exuded a faint scent of grass and trees, which boosted Zhao Tianyang's spirits, as he had just felt a little slack due to getting up.

"The factory manager is here. Bring me the freshly-made steamed buns."

A middle-aged man with a slight limp in his left foot smiled and handed Zhao Tianyang two steamed buns and an egg.

Li Yunlong gave special approval and special care to special talents, so no one could say anything.

"Thank you, Uncle Li."

Zhao Tianyang took the steamed bun and gave the egg to Li Yuncai.

This man was sent by Li Yunlong to be his assistant. He was a Red Army soldier with rich combat experience, but he was injured in a battle and had to retreat to logistics.

"Oh, no, no, I've already eaten."

Li Yuncai waved his hands hurriedly: "This is specially approved by the regiment commander. It is to ensure the factory director's nutrition so that he can better manufacture weapons for our new regiment. I dare not eat it."

"Haha, alright."

Zhao Tianyang smiled bitterly. To be honest, he had been here for so long and Li Yunlong had considered every aspect for him, but he had not made any contribution at all. It was really embarrassing.

In this mood, Zhao Tianyang finished his breakfast in a few bites and brought Li Yuncai to the newly repaired warehouse.

Looking at the pitifully few supplies in the warehouse, Zhao Tianyang felt a bit of a headache. Although there were some machines brought back from the repair shop, they could barely support a small weapons processing plant.

But that requires people and materials. If he relies entirely on his hands, it will take at least a week to produce an old sleeve.

But who says that an arsenal must only make guns? Looking at the black gunpowder packed in several large ceramic jars in front of me, an idea gradually took shape in my mind.

"This is the black gunpowder that the commander saved up. He originally wanted to make some land mines, but he never had the right opportunity."

Seeing Zhao Tianyang staring at the black gunpowder in a daze, Li Yun explained.

"How much black powder is there?"

Zhao Tianyang opened a can of black powder and took a look.

"It seems to be about 500 kilograms."

Li Yuncai touched his head and said uncertainly.

"Ah."

Zhao Tianyang nodded and began to think about how to make the most of the black gunpowder.

The first thing he thought of was to make grenades. As a small explosive weapon, it can effectively kill and deter the enemy by relying on the shock waves and fragments generated by the explosion. It is an important weapon in the hands of infantry.

But grenades are not so easy to make. A regular grenade is composed of three major parts: the warhead, the fuse, and the handle.

The warhead responsible for loading gunpowder was not so easy to produce, so he also had to build a small blast furnace to melt steel.

As for the fuse, it can be directly replaced by a firecracker fuse. As for other detonators, they can be simply omitted. Anyway, the grenades he made were made of earth and did not require those high-tech things.

"Uncle Li, go find the regiment commander and ask him to find a bricklayer, a carpenter, and a blacksmith. It would be best if they were reliable."

After making up his mind, Zhao Tianyang gave instructions to Li Yuncai.

"Okay, I'll go right away."

Li Yuncai nodded, turned around and ran towards the village without saying anything else.

Zhao Tianyang wrapped some black gunpowder in newspapers and prepared to granulate them, otherwise even if they were made into grenades, they would not be very powerful.

As for what kind of sugar to add to it, he didn't even dare to think about it.

Nowadays, sugar is a strategic material. It is not like in later times where you can buy it in supermarkets. Here, if you rashly go to the county town to ask about sugar, you may be arrested and tortured.

A moment later, outside the factory, Zhao Tianyang was holding a bamboo weaving and shaking it continuously.

To granulate black powder, you need a binder, and the best binder is egg white, but what are the conditions? Do you dare to use egg white?

It's not like he traveled across time to some magical TV series, so he could only make do with some clean water. Of course, if he wasn't afraid of feeling nauseous, urine would also work just as well.

"The factory manager has found someone for you."

At this time, Li Yun came over with ten people.

"These are the ones specially recruited by the regiment commander recently. They are either blacksmiths, carpenters, bricklayers, or apprentices. They are all craftsmen, and they have already joined the New 1st Regiment. They are our own people."

"What!"

Zhao Tianyang was a little surprised. Li Yunlong had some stuff. He was prepared for a rainy day.

"Great, you arrange it. First build an iron smelting furnace, and then carve a few grenade handles out of wood."

Since they were all professionals, Zhao Tianyang didn't waste any time and started making arrangements right away.

"No problem. Just wait and see."

Li Yuncai patted his chest excitedly. He also knew what Zhao Tianyang wanted to do. He was excited at the thought that their New 1st Regiment would be able to make their own grenades in the future.

After Li Yuncai left with several blacksmiths and carpenters, Zhao Tianyang handed the bamboo weaving in his hand to the apprentice who stayed behind.

Then he took another apprentice to the warehouse to make some firecracker fuses.

The manufacture of firecracker fuses is relatively simple. They are usually made of cotton or paper with saltpeter powder. For convenience, Zhao Tianyang plans to use newspaper as the fuse this time.

Cut the newspaper into long strips, then fix one end and spread it flat. Dip a smooth wooden stick in saltpeter and then shake it quickly. The saltpeter will fall on the newspaper to form long strips. Then rub it with your hands and a fuse will come out.

"Have you learned it?"

Zhao Tianyang looked at the apprentice beside him.

"Yes, yes."

The apprentice nodded repeatedly.

"Very good, I'll leave it to you then, get started."

Zhao Tianyang made way and motioned the apprentice to come forward.

"Be careful to make sure the nitre powder is evenly distributed, otherwise it will easily cause problems during combustion."

"Yeah, don't worry, Director. I will do my best."

The apprentice concentrated on operating the wooden stick in his hand, not daring to be careless in the slightest.

Seeing this, Zhao Tianyang smiled, told him to do a good job, and left, ready to go see how Li Yuncai and the others were doing.