thefictionvixens Chapter 344
Chapter 344
"Your Majesty, do you want to take a pig back with you? I will arrange for someone to do it now?"
"No need. If you want to eat pork in the future, just go to the restaurant." Li Shimin thought for a moment and waved his hand to decline.
Su Chen thought about it and agreed. The palace was not far from Leshan Restaurant, so it was very convenient.
The two pigs sold to Leshan Restaurant today were slaughtered for a fee of four strings of copper coins.
The pork organs were also processed and sent to the restaurant, and a menu was written by the way. Two chefs who were familiar with cooking pork dishes were also arranged to go to the restaurant for teaching.
The service was very thoughtful.
After taking a bath, Li Shimin returned to the living room. Two hours had passed.
At this time, Empress Changsun and the others had not returned yet. Li Shimin looked at his watch and was obviously a little anxious.
At this time, a guard came to the living room in a hurry.
He bowed respectfully, "Your Highness, I have caught up with the Western Region caravan at 11:00 today and conveyed what Your Highness has told me."
This guard was from the Eastern Palace Guards, and Li Chengqian sent them out to chase Atana yesterday.
Because they didn't know the specific route, the two hundred guards sent out could only chase in a general direction.
The Western Region border was the limit, and whichever team caught up would come back and report immediately.
Li Shimin pretended to be calm and just listened quietly.
Although he felt very confused in his heart.
"Okay, I know, go down and rest!" Li Chengqian nodded in response.
The guard bowed again and left the living room.
Without waiting for Li Shimin to ask, Li Chengqian looked around the living room and whispered:
"Father, after arriving at the manor yesterday, my brother-in-law suddenly asked me to send people to chase Atana, saying that he was looking for a yellow stone in the Western Region."
Li Shimin frowned after listening and nodded slowly.
"Boy, do you like rare things like gemstones from the Western Regions?" Li Shimin looked at Su Chen and asked with a smile.
"No, I want to get some to study."
Su Chen shook his head and did not mention the explosives.
"Oh? Tell me, what does the yellow stone look like? Maybe the Tang Dynasty has it."
Hearing Su Chen say that he was studying something, Li Shimin felt that it must be useful to the Tang Dynasty, otherwise he would not be so eager to catch up with Atana.
"That thing is called sulfur. There are many volcanic areas in the Western Regions.
Usually, where a volcano has erupted, a yellow gas will overflow, and it will condense into sulfur stones after contacting the cold air outside."
Su Chen told the formation process of sulfur, which he did not know much about.
"Sulphur?"
Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling said at the same time.
Su Chen was a little surprised that the ancients knew about sulfur.
"Do you know what sulfur is used for?"
"Haha, boy! Do you know about rockets?" Li Shimin asked with a smile.
Su Chen's eyes suddenly widened, "I know, don't tell Datang that there are rockets now!"
"Oh? Then do you know who made the rockets?" Li Shimin continued to ask.
Su Chen shook his head, indicating that he didn't know.
But Su Chen understood that the rockets Li Shimin was talking about were not the same as the rockets Su Chen was thinking about.
"Haha, that person is in your manor, it's Master Sun!"
Then, Li Shimin continued, "Master Sun had a book in his early years called: The Sulfur Method in the Dan Jing. This book mentions that sulfur is mixed with charcoal and saltpeter, and the effect of using it to make fire and refine elixirs is amazing.
Later, a sudden idea came to him. After the arrows were wrapped with asphalt mixed with sulfur, they were ignited, and they could not be extinguished by wind or water.
This is the origin of the rocket."
The more Su Chen listened, the more shocked he was. It turned out that gunpowder was really made by Sun Simiao of Datang.
Although the gunpowder at that time was a bit "unprofessional", it was the earliest prototype of gunpowder.
Later scholars have not found any definite evidence to prove whether gunpowder was invented by Ge Hong or Sun Simiao.
In the Inner Chapter of Baopuzi, Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty mentioned that saltpeter condenses when it is dissolved in water, and saltpeter mixed with sulfur will explode when it encounters high temperature or collision.
In the Inner Sulfur Method of Sun Simiao's Danjing, it is more clearly stated that sulfur and charcoal saltpeter are two taels each.
But one thing is certain, the people who invented gunpowder are all proficient in alchemy.
Li Shimin was very proud when he saw Su Chen's shocked expression.
"Your Majesty, do you know what saltpeter is?"
"Saltpeter is also called corner frost.
It is precisely because corner frost is not sought that the Tang Dynasty rarely uses rockets." Fang Xuanling replied, stroking his beard.
No one knew that the thing Su Chen used to make ice was called saltpeter. Even if Su Chen told them about saltpeter, they would not think of corner frost.
They didn't know that Su Chen accidentally discovered the saltpeter mine.
"Where does sulfur come from?" Su Chen continued to ask.
Everything else matched, except sulfur, which the ancients didn't know how to make.
In the Tang Dynasty, there was only sulfur, which was called the same but with some differences in the characters."This... you can ask Sun Zhenren." How could Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling know where sulfur came from.
"Your Majesty, go to the study and wait for me!" Su Chen said to Li Shimin very seriously, and then got up to find Sun Simiao.
Li Shimin immediately realized that this matter was not simple.
"Junxian!"
Li Junxian immediately came to Li Shimin outside the door and waited respectfully.
"Dismiss the people and stay away from this hall!"
"Got the order!" Li Junxian immediately executed the order to clear the scene.
"Wang Xi, you stay." Li Shimin saw the housekeeper Wang Xi turned around and wanted to leave, and immediately stopped him.
Wang Xi was a trustworthy person around Li Shimin.
"Xuanling, Xuancheng, go to the study." Li Shimin went to the study to wait according to Su Chen's instructions.
...
"Old immortal, there is an urgent matter!"
"Haha, it's rare for me to see you in such a hurry." Sun Simiao always greeted Su Chen with a kind smile as usual.
"Old Immortal, do you know how to extract sulfur?"
It is not certain whether Atana can find sulfur from the Western Regions. Even if sulfur is found, it will take two or three months.
If Sun Simiao can extract sulfur, it will be great.
As long as there is sulfur, we can try to mix explosives immediately.
Su Chen first thought of using it to blast mountains and build roads. With explosives, it is also much more convenient to take gravel.
Su Chen heard from Li Tai that if Chang Sun Chong and his team encountered a stone mountain when building a road, they would burn the stones with a big fire for several days and nights and then water them.
To put it bluntly, it is to use the principle of thermal expansion and contraction to make the stones burst.
Sun Simiao nodded, "It is not difficult to refine sulfur. You just need to find sulfur ore or extract it from stone.
It is easier to extract sulfur ore."
"Extract from coal? Yes, coal does contain sulfur, otherwise why do we need to desulfurize it!"
"Old Immortal, do you know where there are sulfur ores?"
Sun Simiao thought for a moment and replied, "There are many in Shanxi, and there are more in stone."
Su Chen thought that Shanxi was too far away and could not be found for a while.
"Old Immortal, tell me what sulfur ore looks like, I will ask someone to look for it."
While Su Chen and Sun Simiao were talking, he silently opened the map in his mind, and after a careful search, he did not find any sulfur mines.
"Sulfur ore is easy to identify, most of them are square. There are also irregular shapes, and the whole body is yellow." Sun Simiao thought for a while and replied.
"Square? Yellow?"
Suddenly, Su Chen felt as if he had seen it somewhere.
Such a familiar feeling, I can't remember it for a moment.
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