Chapter Thirty-One: Black Gunpowder

  Zhang Fei was a bit sarcastic and said to Guan Yu, "Big brother never listens to advice. Is he trying to be like the foolish old man who moved mountains, with no end in sight for his descendants?"

  Guan Yu advised him: "Big brother, this place won't work, let's dig another spot and try again?"

  Liu Ze shook his head, the coal in Yangquan was all deeply buried underground, some as shallow as over ten zhang, and others as deep as thirty or fifty zhang. The place he had chosen happened to be where the nearby coal seam was shallowest. It would be great if there were open-pit coal mines. The largest open-pit coal mine in Shanxi was in Pingyu, but it was too far away, and transporting coal from there during the Han Dynasty, when transportation capabilities were still underdeveloped, was like a fool's dream. Moreover, the Xiongnu frequently raided the area, so Liu Ze had long given up on the idea of going to Pingyu.

  The next morning, the excavation workers came to report that there was a huge boulder blocking the way on the excavation surface, and it was unknown how big it was, so they could no longer continue excavating. Liu Ze personally crawled into the cave (in order to reduce the workload, Liu Ze specifically set the height of the cave at five feet, which could only be passed through with bent knees). In front of him, a huge boulder completely blocked the working surface, and there was no edge around it. Ordinary excavation tools were powerless against it.

  Liu Ze thought that modern coal mining all use explosives, but explosives were invented by Nobel, and the chemical name is ***, which can't be made with today's technological level, and it also needs to be detonated. However, black gunpowder is one of China's four great inventions, although its power is not as good as yellow explosive, but Tang Dynasty Sun Simiao was able to invent it, so the technical difficulty must not be high. Liu Ze looked up some information and was overjoyed, sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal are all common things, making granular black gunpowder with explosive properties only needs to strictly follow the proportion and production process, and everything will be OK.

  Three days later, Liu Ze ordered the workers to chisel a small hole with a diameter of one foot in the center of the boulder. Then he personally went inside and filled the small hole with gunpowder. Finally, he ignited the long fuse at the entrance of the hole. The crowd retreated ten yards away, watching as the flames crackled and crept into the hole. Nobody spoke; for these three days, only Liu Ze had been tinkering around, and nobody understood what he was doing, nor did they believe that just a small package of black stuff could break through the boulder.

  A loud rumbling sound, the ground beneath their feet trembled, and thick smoke billowed out of the cave. After the smoke cleared, Liu Ze sent someone to take a look inside, and they found that the massive boulder had been blasted into pieces, only then did everyone believe in the boundless power of Liu Ze's gunpowder.

  Zhang Fei pinched a small black grain and said, "Big brother, if this thing is tied to someone's body and explodes, it will definitely blow them into five pieces."

  Liu Ze laughed and said, "It's not just a case of being torn apart by five horses, if it really explodes, at least you'll be reduced to dust." Liu Ze immediately thought of the future war, his own "invention" of gunpowder (Liu Ze couldn't help but blush when he thought of the word "invention") would surely play a big role, but absolutely must not let the formula leak out, this is an absolute secret weapon.

  The work progress was greatly improved, and a month later when the first lump of coal was lifted out of the mine, everyone cheered. Later, Liu Ze recruited nearly 100 workers and opened six mines at the same time. Coal was continuously excavated from the depths of the mountain and piled up like small hills. Liu Ze arranged for horse-drawn carriages to transport the mined coal to Quyang every day, with vehicles coming and going without interruption.

  Seeing the mine production normalized, Liu Ze decided to return to Quyang to burn bricks and porcelain. Before leaving, he arranged the work of Yangquan Mountain to Hu Liu, the most stable among his partners, and specially reminded him to pay attention to safe production, especially gas emission, ventilation, air supply, tunnel support and the storage and use of explosives.

  Back in Quyang, Liu Ze immediately built a kiln to burn firebricks. After the firebricks were burned, he began building another kiln to burn porcelain. Burning firebricks was not difficult and the process was basically similar to that of ordinary gray bricks, except that gray bricks used clay as raw material while firebricks used kaolin, Liu Ze did not use wood but directly used coal to burn bricks, and added quartz sand and coal to the raw material kaolin, making the burned bricks solid and durable. However, burning porcelain was much more difficult, many craftsmen had never seen coal before, let alone knew how to use it to burn porcelain. All the work had to be done by Liu Ze himself, from selecting the site, building the kiln, making the embryo, drawing patterns, to burning, when the first batch of blue and white plates came out of the kiln, it was already early October, with heavy snow falling and winter suddenly arriving.

  Everyone gazed at these white-based orchids, and the exquisite plates were stunned. They were as white as jade, thin as paper, bright as a mirror, and sounded like a chime, far surpassing the plates used by people.

  Liu Zeji was worried about the scouts, as winter was approaching and the children were still wearing single-layer clothing. He didn't know how they were doing now. At this time, he arranged for the kiln factory's work to be done, bringing over a thousand newly sewn winter clothes and heating equipment, accompanied by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, rushing to Fenghuang Valley. It had been over a month since returning to Quyang, Liu Ze was busy day and night with the kiln factory's affairs, only relaxing after the first batch of porcelain was produced, finally having time to return to Fenghuang Valley.

  In the snowy ground, children lined up in neat rows, under the loud and powerful slogans, marching in unison before Liu Ze, as if they were accepting Liu Ze's inspection. Liu Ze was deeply moved, a few months ago these children were all pale and thin, weak and frail, lining up was also chaotic, without any order. A few months later, these children grew taller and stronger, neat steps, loud slogans, showing grandeur and passion. Who says that refugees are worthless weeds that can be trampled at will? Only give them opportunities, let them exercise, they can also become the pillars of the country.

  Zhang Fei nodded repeatedly on horseback, saying: "This Gan Ning looks as rough and unrefined as I am, but he's actually quite capable. Look at how well these kids are trained under his command."

  Liu Ze beckoned to Guan Hai, who immediately ran up to Liu Ze's horse and bowed his head in greeting: "Your Excellency." His title had changed again, but Liu Ze was quite pleased with the new one. As he was now a commander of thousands of troops, using the old title of "Young Master" seemed somewhat inappropriate. Thinking that this title was often used to address the regional lords at the end of the Han Dynasty, Liu Ze gladly accepted it.

  "You've worked hard."

  "To serve the master with loyalty, even if it means sacrificing one's life, I will not refuse."

  Liu Ze introduced Guan Yu to him and briefly mentioned the matter of the three men swearing an oath of brotherhood.

  Guan Yu bowed with his fists and paid respects to Guan Yu, saying: "I've seen the second master." Guan Yu returned a courtesy. Guan Yu then rushed to Zhang Fei and paid another courtesy: "Third Master is well."

  Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Not too good, we've been traveling over mountains and rivers, eating wind and sleeping in the dew. In the Taihang Mountains, we almost became wolf food. Ah, Guan brother, look at how well you've trained these kids - they're strong and powerful. Can you train a mighty army for your big brother in a few years?"

  "Among these children, many have a talent for martial arts and are diligent in their practice. With some time, they will surely be able to cultivate a team that wins every battle."

  "Alright, that's all for today's training. The rest of the supplies on the train are winter clothes, have someone distribute them so each person gets a set." Liu Ze instructed Gan Xi, pointing to the supplies on the back of the train.

  Guan Hai was very excited, saying: "In these two days, we will be waiting for winter clothes. It has just snowed, and the weather is cold. I'm really afraid that the children will get frostbitten." He immediately turned around and ordered each group leader to come over and take back the winter clothes for each group.

  Liu Ze said, "Zi Qian, this time I've brought several dozen stoves, each tent will be equipped with one, so there's no need to use firewood for heating again this year. The fuel used by the stoves is coal, first unload a few carts, and I'll arrange for people to deliver coal regularly."

  "Coal?" Guan Hai was taken aback for a moment. He had never heard of such a thing before. "Is it better to burn than firewood?"

  Liu Ze smiled and said: "This is no ordinary good burn, burning coal stones in the stove, ensuring that the tent is warm as spring."

  Guan Hai was eager to try it out immediately, but Liu Ze waved his hand and said, "Don't rush, it's almost lunchtime, let's eat first before installing the stove."

  After changing clothes, it was almost noon, just in time for lunch. The cooks had already placed the dishes on the large table. Today's lunch consisted of two dishes and one soup: carrot stewed beef, cabbage stewed with vermicelli, and egg drop soup. The staple food was flatbread, all according to Liu Ze's previously set menu. Each person had a wooden dinner plate with four recesses carved out, similar in size and depth to a large ceramic bowl, just right for holding the two dishes, one soup, and staple food.

  "Report to the master, previously we used coarse ceramic bowls, one per person. During meals with dishes and soup, everyone had to refill several times, which was quite inconvenient and wasted time. Seeing that there are large trees all around this valley, I thought of making a wooden dining tray, so that everything can be served at once. As I had learned woodworking skills for a few years in my hometown, I gathered over a dozen woodworkers, cut down dozens of trees, made some wooden trays and tables, and also blocked the entrance to the valley with a wooden fence, leaving only one gate, prohibiting random entry and exit."

  Liu Ze had just come in and found that the valley was already enclosed by a fence, but he never thought it was Guan Hai who did it himself. He nodded and said, "You have thought of everything ahead of time, I am very relieved."

  "Zhang Fei smiled with a twisted mouth: 'Guan brother, you have this skill to support your family and make a living, why do you still go and engage in robbery and theft?'"

  "When I was at home, I once ran a wooden shop, and I had no worries about food and clothing. Later, the governor of this county came, and he levied heavy taxes on everything, so I got angry and killed the tax collector, and that's how I became a bandit." Guan Hai said with a helpless expression, who isn't born to be a thief, it's the officials who force the people to rebel, and the people have no choice but to rebel.

  Hearing this, Guan Yu nodded repeatedly, and Liu Ze couldn't help but sigh.