0p0 Chapter 156 Bullet Primer Mercury Fumed Acid
Chapter 156 Bullet Primer Mercury Fumed Acid
The next morning, after a night's rest, Ding Baiying, who had rested enough, took a shower, changed into new clothes, and dressed beautifully. She still wore the bracelet that Lu Cheng had given her. She accompanied Lu Cheng to meet Zhang Yan.
Sure enough, even a chivalrous woman like Ding Baiying couldn't avoid the thoughts of her little daughter.
When the two arrived at the Zhang family courtyard, Zhang Guoji had already gone to work in the logistics department, and the Zhang family's boy had also gone to school. Only Zhang Yan and her younger sister Zhang Wan were left at home.
Zhang Yan heard Lu Cheng's voice outside the door, so she opened the door. She was happy when she saw Lu Cheng, but when she saw Ding Baiying behind Lu Cheng, she was stunned again.
"Yan'er, this is Ding Baiying, who I mentioned to you before."
After Zhang Yan realized what was happening, she quickly opened the door and stepped aside: "So this is Sister Ding. Sister Ding is so beautiful. No wonder Brother Lu often mentions her. Sister Ding, please come in."
In fact, although Lu Cheng had mentioned Ding Baiying to Zhang Yan, he only mentioned her casually during the conversation and did not say much.
I didn't expect this little girl to be so good at talking.
Ding Baiying was originally a little jealous, but after seeing Zhang Yan's appearance, he was stunned for a moment.
Since Zhang Yan's family came to Haizhouwei, they have been eating the best food and using the best supplies. They have never lacked nutrition, and the little girl is growing faster.
Compared to a few months ago, Zhang Yan is now taller and fuller, her skin is whiter and more tender, and her facial features are gradually developing. She has become extremely stunningly beautiful.
Even Ding Baiying, who is also a woman, couldn't help but be surprised when she saw it.
"Zhang's sister is extremely beautiful. I have never seen anyone as beautiful as her. No wonder Lu Cheng is attracted to her."
"Sister Ding, please come in and sit down."
When Lu Cheng and Ding Baiying walked into the room, they saw a half-embroidered handkerchief with a picture of mandarin ducks playing in the water placed on the table.
Ding Baiying picked it up and took a look. She couldn't help but admire: "I didn't expect that my sister is not only beautiful, but also so good at needlework. Unlike me, my elder sister, I only know how to wield a knife and a stick, but I don't know how to do this."
"Sister, you are too kind. Being able to do needlework is nothing. Being able to wield a sword and ride a horse to kill the enemy is truly amazing. Just like Hua Mulan who joined the army for her father, and Qin Liangyu who killed the enemy for her husband. Brother Lu often mentioned you to me before, saying that you helped him a lot. I am also very envious."
There was no tension between the two women when they met for the first time. Instead, they were very polite.
In fact, with Ding Baiying's personality, he would not get angry with such a gentle and beautiful girl.
As for Zhang Yan, she received traditional education since childhood and learned the Three Obediences, Four Virtues and Seven Reasons for Leaving. She is also gentle in nature and would not have any disputes with Ding Baiying.
Moreover, Zhang Yan also knew her own identity. She was originally just the daughter of an ordinary scholar. According to the concept of equal status, it would be difficult for her to become Lu Cheng's legal wife.
Of course, Zhang Yan didn’t know that she was destined to be the queen.
After the two girls chatted for a while, they started talking about the older sister in various ways, and they became more and more compatible.
Seeing this situation, Lu Cheng felt relieved and turned to look at the little girl Zhang Wan who was learning needlework nearby.
This little girl was only eight or nine years old when she started learning women's embroidery skills.
However, women in this era rarely learned to read and write, and the education they received from birth was how to be a good wife in the future.
Zhang Guoji was relatively generous towards his children. He taught his daughter how to read and write, and also let her read some history books to help her understand the truth.
Seeing that Ding Baiying and Zhang Yan were able to chat together, Lu Cheng didn't have to worry too much.
At noon, Zhang Yan cooked a few side dishes and invited Ding Baiying to have a meal. Ding Baiying was full of praise for her cooking skills.
When leaving Zhang's house in the afternoon, Zhang Yan still held Ding Baiying's hand and asked her to come and visit often in the future.
Ding Baiying didn't say until they were far away from Zhang's house: "I didn't expect this Zhang family sister to be so beautiful. Not to mention men, even a woman like me would be moved when she saw her. No wonder you like her. If such a beautiful sister were to marry someone else, I would be reluctant to let her. Moreover, she is so gentle..."
Lu Cheng glanced at Ding Baiying. Although this chivalrous woman had much more life experience than Zhang Yan, when it came to emotional intelligence, she might not be able to compare with that little girl Zhang Yan.
During the conversation between the two just now, Zhang Yan always gave just the right amount of compliments, and said how much Lu Cheng missed Ding Baiying every time he mentioned her, etc., which made Ding Baiying smile happily.
I have to admit that some things are truly innate and difficult to learn.
Back at the General's Mansion, Ding Baiying saw that Lu Cheng was busy with official business again, so he came over and said, "Please assign me a job, too. I can't just sit there doing nothing every day, can I?"
"What do you want to do yourself?"
"How about I go and train your soldiers?"
"How about this, you go around the city for the next two days and get familiar with the situation. If you really can't stay idle, go find Ding Xian. Ding Xian has a group of people under him. You can go and be their coach and train them in swords, guns and other weapons.
In addition, you should inform your relatives and friends in the next two days, and write a letter to Brother Wen Zhao to tell him about our marriage. I will marry you when we pick a good day. "
"Yeah~ I'll listen to you."
As a woman, Ding Baiying was somewhat embarrassed to talk about her own marriage.
After a pause, Ding Baiying said, "Ding Chong and Ding Tai are here too. What are you going to do with them?"
"Let them follow Ding Xian and train for two or three months to familiarize themselves with the military's fighting styles. When I come back, I plan to form an external team, and we'll need some people with good kung fu skills. If they perform well, they might be able to take charge on their own."
After arranging everything, Lu Cheng continued to be busy.
After Ding Baiying came, the general's mansion became much more lively. It was nice to have someone to chat with and practice sword skills together.
While development is underway in all aspects, the problem of talent shortage in southern Liaoning has become more prominent.
It will take at least a few years for the orphans adopted by the welfare home to grow up.
The four guards in southern Liaoning also needed some civil servants and clerks to manage government affairs, manage accounts, deal with some civil disputes, supervise the development of various industries, ensure the implementation of education and training, etc. All of these required some educated people to manage.
Even though Lu Cheng offered very high conditions, not many scholars from other places were willing to come to this bitter and cold place of Liaodong.
For this reason, Lu Cheng had to think of other ways.
Soon, some information sent back from Kyoto City caught Lu Cheng's attention.
Due to the increasingly fierce struggle between the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party recently, many middle and lower-level officials in the court have been dismissed, and serious ones have even been directly imprisoned, had their homes searched, etc.
Among these officials implicated in the party struggles, some were indeed members of the Donglin Party, while some did not belong to any party, but because they had no background or backing, they suffered the consequences and were deprived of their official positions.
After careful consideration, Lu Cheng decided to have the Intelligence Department focus on examining those low-level officials who have certain abilities and are not members of the Eunuch Party or the Donglin Party. If any capable officials are found, they will be given special attention.
For those officials who have certain abilities but are implicated in party struggles, we can consider rescuing them and taking them away secretly.
After experiencing party struggles, officials of this type are usually disappointed with the court and have nowhere to go, so they are also suitable for recruitment.
Of course, it is not an easy task to snatch people from the East and West Factories and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Lu Cheng specifically instructed the intelligence department to make sure they were well prepared, not to expose themselves, and to abandon their targets if necessary.
Of course, Lu Cheng just made this move casually, and he didn't have much hope of gaining much.
In recent times, in addition to handling various official duties, Lu Cheng has focused his main energy on the firearms workshop.
Considering that the original processing speed of the gun barrel was too slow, Lu Cheng asked the craftsmen to shorten the length of the barrel appropriately to produce a precision rifle with an effective range of more than 300 meters and a lance with an effective range of meters.
At the same time, Lu Cheng asked the glass workshop to produce some experimental supplies, and successfully extracted nitric acid by dry distillation of saltpeter.
Nitric acid is then reacted with mercury to obtain mercuric nitrate, which is then further reacted with ethanol to obtain fulminate of mercury.
With fulminate of mercury, we can make the primers and flash caps needed for bullets and artillery shells.
With the percussion hider, even if it is not possible to produce fixed bullets with metal shells for the time being, it is possible to gradually convert the muzzle-loading gun into a breech-loading gun.
Moreover, the most primitive revolver simply loaded black powder into the six magazines, stuffed in bullets, compacted them with a pressure rod, and installed primers at the rear, and then it could be fired.
Although the loading method of the original revolver was very troublesome and the hammer had to be moved after each shot, this pistol that could quickly fire six bullets was already a groundbreaking weapon.
Of course, if you want to make a revolver, the loading cylinder and the rotating mechanism need to be quite delicate, and it also requires a certain foundation...