Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 108: Set Sail Now (Part 3)
In August 1607, Zhu Youdong went to Fangshan to escape the summer heat, but he stopped the ten-day meetings with the officials in Nanjing and plunged into the Fangshan laboratory.
The so-called Fangshan Laboratory is actually the prototype of the Future Science Institute, which is divided into several categories.
The first category is basic science, and the person in charge is Matteo Ricci. His main job is to write algebra and geometry textbooks.
Before traveling through time, Zhu Youdong had never been known as a "student master". While his talented classmates were admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University, he could only be admitted to a second-tier medical school through his hard work day after day. Therefore, Zhu Youdong, who knew that he was not a genius, was very honest when climbing the technology tree. He would spend a lot of time and energy to lay a solid foundation before starting to climb.
Mathematics does not directly generate much economic benefits. However, it is the most basic subject of natural science. Zhu Youdong dragged Matteo Ricci to Nanjing because China's level of mathematics had fallen behind that of the West at that time, and only foreign aid could make up for this shortcoming.
The second category is the physical and chemical laboratory. After glass products quickly matured, especially the use of microscopes and the continuous improvement of microscopic magnification, the development of this laboratory was extremely rapid.
Of course, the microscopes at Fangshan are all optical microscopes. Due to the wavelength of light, it is impossible to see atoms with this type of microscope. But under the strong intervention of Zhu Youdong, the time traveler, the Fangshan Physical and Chemical Laboratory directly developed a periodic table of elements and a simple molecular structure diagram.
With these two things, various physical and especially chemical experiments have theoretical guidance. So when Zhu Youdong came to this laboratory, Li Zhizao, who was in charge of this laboratory, excitedly told him: nitroglycerin can be stably produced in the laboratory, nitrocellulose has been preliminarily synthesized, and the silver mirror reaction can also be used for large-scale production.
"Oh, doesn't this mean that our mirrors can be sold a second time?"
Li Zhizao had long been numb to the money-obsessed prince, and was too lazy to condemn him. Besides, the experiments in the laboratory cost a lot of money. A few days ago, a small piece of nitrocellulose caused an explosion that overturned half of the laboratory.
"Mr. Li, you must be careful when doing experiments, especially those involving the possibility of explosion. You are very important to me, and I cannot lose you."
"I thank you for your concern, Your Highness. However, after your guidance, I feel like I have entered a vast new world. Sometimes, I do forget everything else."
"Well, Mr. Li, please take care of yourself. Oh, by the way, has the nitroglycerin been handed over to Dr. Wu's medical laboratory for relevant experiments?"
"Five days ago, after the first batch of nitroglycerin was synthesized, I immediately sent a batch to Doctor Wu. Doctor Wu said that he would take some time to find obese patients who often feel a rope tightening on their chest to test the drug. So I don't know how effective it is. But the next regular laboratory meeting will be held in five days, and I will ask Doctor Wu then."
"Very good. Mr. Li, the next task I will assign to you is to work with Mr. Zhao from the weapons laboratory to find a way to mix materials to make stable, portable explosives."
"Grandson, are you sure that these four things mixed together can produce an explosive stronger than today's granulated gunpowder?"
"I am very sure. But what is the perfect ratio between these four things? Mr. Li will have to worry about this."
"Yes, that's right. I'll make a note of it."
The third laboratory is the medical laboratory.
"Students are waiting to see the teacher."
"Oh, fellow Xinglin seniors, don't you see my age? How dare I be your teacher?"
"The one who is accomplished comes first. We are all deeply impressed by your highness's achievements in medicine. Your highness certainly deserves the title of 'teacher'."
"No, no, I have some wonderful ideas in the field of new medicine. But in terms of Chinese medicine, I still have a lot to learn from you."
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Zhu Youdong took the main seat: "Yoke, you can start."
"Yes, teacher." After bowing respectfully, Wu Youxing said, "With the help of the microscope in the optical laboratory and the pure oxygen extraction method in the physical and chemical laboratory, the speed of Penicillium cultivation in our laboratory has been greatly accelerated. In the past two months, we have successfully extracted diphtheria bacteria from diphtheria patients and Staphylococcus aureus from lung abscess patients. Recently, after using the Penicillium cultivated in our laboratory to attack them, they were completely killed. Next, our laboratory plans to start experiments on live animals."
"Well, I don't care about animal experiments, but everyone, humans are the most precious creatures in this world. If you want to conduct human experiments, you must be cautious!"
"We will obey the master's orders."
"Yes, how effective is the nitroglycerin that the physics and chemistry lab sent a few days ago?"
"Speaking of this, let's ask Doctor Wu to come and speak for himself."
Wu Zhiwang, a Confucian doctor in the Ming Dynasty, was a famous doctor in Guanzhong area at that time. In his letter to him, Zhu Youdong only drew a simple diagram of human blood circulation and described the microscope, which easily attracted him to Nanjing. Due to his advanced age and long-term lack of activity, his physical condition was the worst among the famous doctors gathered in Nanjing. One of the most prominent symptoms was the frequent paroxysmal squeezing pain in the chest.
"Teacher, I have suffered from this disease for a long time. After Mr. Li from next door sent me this nitroglycerin, I volunteered to be the guinea pig. It took less than half an incense stick of time for me to take the medicine and the effect was immediate. So far, I have taken it twice in five days and there are no other problems."
"Very good. But since only Mr. Wu is taking it, the dosage is still insufficient. I mean, we should find at least 100 patients with similar symptoms to try the medicine. There are so many rich people in the four provinces of Jiangnan, so there must be many such patients. I just don't know if these people are willing to test the medicine on themselves. "
" Haha , there's no need to worry about this teacher. After all, the teacher is the grandson of the crown prince, so he can't practice medicine directly, so his name is not well-known in our medical world. But the students still have some reputation in the medical world. As long as we go down the mountain to promote it personally..."
"Hahaha, yes, I'll leave it to you all then."
The fourth laboratory is the weapons laboratory.
"Your Highness, I, Zhao Shizhen, pay my respects to you."
"Mr. Zhao, how is the manufacturing of the breech-loading rifle going?"
"This thing is not difficult. After Your Highness proposed the concept of the firing pin, I have already made a real thing."
Well, although the first breech-loading rifle in this historical plane was born in 1836, at that time, Dresser, the inventor of the breech-loading rifle, was able to make it in his own home workshop. Therefore, as long as the idea problem is solved, and with the support and help of Fangshan Laboratory in materials science, the breech-loading rifle is not complicated.
The trouble is the bullets and gunpowder.
At present, both the former Honghezhuang and the current Fangshan can manufacture excellent flintlock rifles. The application of rifling, Minié bullets, granulated black powder, and paper shell fixed loading technologies, at least in Zhu Youdong's case, has already developed the muzzle-loading rifle to its peak in advance.
Now, the breech-loading rifle had been made, but the bullets and gunpowder were holding it back.
"Your Highness, there are several main problems with the current breech-loading rifle bullets. First, if we continue to use the previous paper shell fixed bullets, it is not impossible, but the paper shell will leave a lot of ash after burning, and it will not take long for the magazine to be blocked. Second, if we use the full copper shell fixed bullets that Your Highness mentioned, the processing difficulty will increase exponentially. Not only will the production of bullets be extremely slow, but there is also no guarantee that the size of the bullets produced will be exactly the same. Third, the use of full copper shell fixed bullets requires extremely high quality of the firing pin, and the current firing pins of breech-loading rifles cannot be used for a long time. Fourth, even if copper shell fixed bullets are used, there is no smokeless gunpowder like Your Highness mentioned. Even if it is used, it will still leave a lot of ash and block the magazine. Fifth, nitrocellulose does leave almost no ash after burning, but this thing is extremely unstable. If the army carries a large amount of this thing, I am afraid that it will blow itself up before hitting the enemy. Therefore, I think that this breech-loading rifle cannot be used in actual combat in the short term..."
Oh, it seems that it is not so easy to develop a breech-loading rifle more than a hundred years in advance.
"Mr. Zhao, I don't have any ready-made solutions to these problems. I can only explore them step by step."
"Yes, I was anxious for a moment. But rest assured, Your Highness. I firmly believe that with clear goals, these problems can be solved accordingly within three to five years."
"Yes, I believe it. Mr. Zhao, besides muskets, what about artillery?"
"Your Highness, the Portuguese craftsmen that Mr. Leach brought to us through the Jesuits are really good. We have already completed the production of the six-pound and eight-pound cannons, and are currently forging the twelve-pound cannon."
"Well, for land warfare, a twelve-pounder is good enough. So, Mr. Zhao, after the twelve-pounder is made, as long as it passes the test and the quality is acceptable, we will organize people to mass-produce it. Mr. Xiong in Kuandian is in urgent need of the cannon. In addition, Captain Li from Japan should be here in a month at most."
