Chapter 93: Chapter 93: Saltpeter, Sulfur, and Charcoal
The construction work on the mountain stronghold is already halfway through, now they are building the stronghold walls.
To ensure adequate defense, the stronghold walls also need to have a foundation laid.
Of course, unlike modern reinforced concrete, the foundation here is made of wooden stakes.
To accommodate two to three thousand people, the stronghold walls must also be long enough.
A suitable location must be found. If the ground is too hard, with rocks beneath, it’s definitely not suitable as the stakes won’t penetrate.
After finally finding a suitable place, they need to outline the baseline, cut trees, chisel rocks, and dig the foundation.
The birds and beasts of the surrounding forests have long been startled away.
As workers dug the foundation, they hadn’t even dug fifty centimeters deep before reaching a layer of filthy black soil.
Calling it soil might be inaccurate; anyway, the workers didn’t know what it was and continued digging, each getting covered in dirt.
"Clang!"
At this moment, a worker swung his hoe with force; perhaps he had dug into a rock, producing a crisp sound.
The worker brought over a pickaxe, planning to extract the rock.
Once the pickaxe hit, the rock within the soil instantly broke apart, the worker dug it out with a hoe, a brush of golden yellow flashed in the worker’s eyes,
The worker picked up that rock, wiped the "black soil" off carefully, and then, incredibly excited, shouted: "I found gold, I found gold."
When the worker shouted, the villagers around all came over.
"It’s gold, bright yellow gold." Someone echoed, also believing it was gold.
"We’re rich, we found gold."
The crowd buzzed with excitement.
Hu Qiang walked over: "Why is everyone gathered here instead of working?"
"Captain Hu, Old Liu found gold. Look." Someone in the crowd said, then took the "gold" from Old Liu’s hand and handed it to Hu Qiang for inspection.
Hu Qiang hadn’t really seen gold either, but even if one hasn’t eaten pork, they’ve seen pigs run; this stone did indeed look like the gold they spoke of.
"You all stay here; I’ll take it to Immortal Master Chen to see." Hu Qiang said.
...
"Found gold?"
Upon hearing Hu Qiang’s words, Chen Mo was stunned and then became excited himself.
If they’ve truly discovered gold, it’s surely not just one or two pieces, maybe it’s a whole gold mine, which would really make them rich, and there’s no need to smuggle salt anymore.
However, when Hu Qiang presented the "gold" to Chen Mo for inspection, Chen Mo immediately realized that it wasn’t gold.
As a battlefield boss, he knew a bit about minerals. If he wasn’t mistaken, the stone before him should be pyrite.
Chen Mo took it and examined it closely, and sure enough, it was pyrite.
Pyrite’s exterior color is similar to gold, easily deceiving those unfamiliar, and its shape tends to be cubic, like the stone before him.
Furthermore, pyrite easily oxidizes and darkens in the air; just burning it will cause it to change color, while gold remains unchanged.
"This isn’t gold, it’s pyrite, merely color resembles gold. You can burn it with fire; it will change color."
Chen Mo felt it necessary to explain; if the villagers misunderstood it as gold, it could cause an uproar.
To prove it to Hu Qiang, Chen Mo directly split the pyrite piece in his hand. The cross-section was yellow-white with a metallic sheen.
"Look." Chen Mo said.
Seeing that it truly wasn’t gold, Hu Qiang couldn’t hide his disappointment.
"Right, where was this found? Take me to see."
"Exactly where we’re constructing the stronghold."
...
When Hu Qiang and Chen Mo reached the mountain.
The location where pyrite was discovered had already been dug up, and even the workers had started fighting over it.
"Bang, that’s mine. Don’t grab it." A villager threw a punch.
"What do you mean yours? I clearly dug it up."
Until Chen Mo came before them, they were still arguing.
Hu Qiang stepped forward to separate them, saying: "What are you fighting for? Immortal Master Chen said it’s not gold."
Upon hearing it isn’t gold, the crowd finally quieted. However, someone couldn’t help questioning: "If it’s this color, what else could it be other than gold?"
Chen Mo temporarily did not answer, instead, he looked at the coal uncovered and once more became excited.
This time it truly was pyrite.
Because most pyrites are often associated with coal mines.
He picked up a piece of pyrite and smashed it hard.
Pyrite is hard, somewhat brittle, easily shattered, the cross-section shows yellow-white or brown color, with visible silvery sparkle.
"This is pyrite, a type of ore. Look at the shattered color; is it gold? If you’re still skeptical, you can burn it. Supposedly true gold stands the test of fire; if it’s true gold, it won’t change color." Chen Mo said.
In the face of tremendous profit, even with Chen Mo’s words, some people still didn’t believe it.
They truly lit a fire and burned it, and indeed, after brief roasting, the pyrite changed color.
"It’s truly... not gold." Seeing this, the villagers one by one showed disappointment.
And Chen Mo, observing the roasted pyrite, suddenly thought of something.
Pyrite can be used to extract sulfur.
Now there’s coal, the steps aren’t difficult.
Additionally, if he recalled correctly, coal seems to be able to extract sulfur too.
With sulfur, a bold idea surfaced in Chen Mo’s mind.
Correct.
It’s gunpowder.
One part nitrate, two parts sulfur, and three parts charcoal.
Anyone who has read books has heard of this saying.
And the making of gunpowder isn’t difficult, even incredibly simple.
He had looked up the proportions of nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal online long ago, even attempted making it personally and succeeded.
Only he nearly injured himself once in an explosion, so he stopped.
If some white sugar were added...
Wow, wow, wow...
Chen Mo’s mood suddenly became exuberant.
If gunpowder were truly made, would it be effective against upper-grade or middle-grade martial artists, he wasn’t sure, but for those like him who are lower three grades, it definitely would work.
If produced on a large scale.
That scene...
This Emperor, you Chu Family can sit, but can’t I?
Yes, the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty is surnamed Chu.
"Hu Qiang, let’s halt the construction work on the stronghold and instead dig out all the coal and pyrite here and transport it back to the village." Chen Mo said.
"Coal?" Hu Qiang was puzzled.
"It’s the black soil on the ground."
"Understood."
"By the way, for those involved in digging coal and pyrite, provide three meals a day."
"Thank you, Immortal Master."
...
After returning from the mountain, Chen Mo worked tirelessly to bring others to dig the soil and construct a furnace, the furnace’s center had to be raised with a circular hole exposed.
Chen Mo also planned to ask Liu Gui to craft an alms bowl with its center raised.
This way, when extracting sulfur, the alms bowl covers the furnace hole, and the yellow vapor of sulfur from pyrite rises along the furnace hole and is blocked by the alms bowl, preventing escape, finally entering the cooling pipeline within the bowl and flowing into a small pool, condensing into solid sulfur.
ps: Asking for a monthly pass!