Wu Huan went home, glanced at He Gui, and then immersed himself in his bullet project. The most crucial component of a bullet is the primer.
The bottom fire cup for the bottom fire is difficult to maintain, but the most troublesome part is the preparation of mercury fulminate. Wu Huan knows how to dry distill saltpeter to obtain nitric acid, and he also knows how to react with mercury and then with ethanol. The whole process is numerous and complex, and just preparing nitric acid and ethanol requires a lot of effort.
Actually, Wu Huan was lucky because with Luo Luyuan's help, raw materials were not a problem at all; otherwise, just finding raw materials would have driven Wu Huan crazy.
Both bullet casings and bullets need to wait for the barrel, otherwise they will easily become scrap. In the end, it is still a lack of trust in the technology of this era.
Seeing Wu Huan busy with this and that, and realizing he couldn't help, He Gui didn't want to sleep. He would get up and wander around, looking here and there. When Wu Huan wasn't around, he would often sigh deeply. He felt like a useless person, that he was of no use to Wu Huan, and spent his days wallowing in self-pity, quickly becoming thinner and thinner.
Wu Huan was unwilling to see He Gui like this, and he felt that He Gui should do something. He wouldn't let He Gui participate in gun manufacturing, since Wu Huan didn't plan to bring He Gui to Chang'an right now, and knowing about gun manufacturing would bring unpredictable dangers to He Gui.
After much deliberation, Wu Huan decided to have He Gui settle in Hangzhou and help him look after the pearl oysters.
Wu Huan called He Gui over and asked, "How's your injury?"
He Gui: "My eyes are fine, but my shoulder still aches slightly."
Wu Huan said, "I know you've been feeling sorry for yourself these past few days, afraid that I'll abandon you. We're brothers who've been through life and death together, how could I abandon you?"
He Gui blushed and said, "I'm not worried that my master will abandon me, but... I'm afraid of being a burden to my master."
Wu Huan said, "What are you saying? No matter what, you'll always be my best brother. Don't talk about being a burden. You know how dangerous it is to go to Chang'an this time, so you can't come with me."
He Gui grew anxious: "Why can't Master go to Chang'an? Is it because I'm blind, or because I'm weak in one hand? I can make the bed for Master, I can serve Master at his beck and call..."
Wu Huan shook his head: "Agui, you really can't go to Chang'an, because there's something more important for you. It concerns my future and how well we'll live the rest of our lives!"
He Gui was skeptical when he heard Wu Huan's words: "Master, what is it?"
Wu Huan pointed to the triangular sail clam thrown into the water tank and said, "Because of it!"
He Gui: "Those clams?"
After much deliberation, Wu Huan decided not to tell He Gui the truth, fearing that if things changed in Hangzhou in the future, He Gui, given his personality, might stubbornly cling to the pearl oyster and lose his life in vain.
Wu Huan: "Yes! I'll use these clams a lot in the future. Also, you'll need to cultivate these two things."
Wu Huan took out two dried chilies, a sweet potato, and a purple sweet potato.
He Gui asked curiously, "What are these two things?"
Wu Huan said, "These are chili peppers, sweet potatoes, and purple sweet potatoes. Keep them safe for now, and I'll teach you how to grow them later. For now, let me teach you how to handle these clams."
Wu Huan also grows pearls, a beautiful chapter in his past. To others, Wu Huan is someone who enjoys being surrounded by beautiful women. This is because the pearl growers were all pretty young women—not just one or two, but a group, dozens.
Wu Huan, just beginning to experience romantic feelings, naturally enjoyed mingling among these girls. After spending a lot of time with them, he naturally learned the craft of pearl cultivation. Occasionally, he would even cover for the girls he admired for a while, allowing them to get some fresh air or take care of their personal needs.
Wu Huan said to He Gui, "I'll do it for you to see. If you don't understand, just ask."
Wu Huan took the triangular sail clam out of the water tank and put it in the water basin. Then he took out a set of tools that he had been using for a long time: a small, pointed hook, a knife, tweezers, an opening support, a large wooden support, and a clean piece of pottery.
Since there were no glass shards in the world, Wu Huan had no intention of making glass after selling his bow and arrows, so he used ceramic shards instead.
Wu Huan sterilized the tools in boiling water and then took them out. He opened a large triangular sail mussel, cut off its mantle membranes on both sides, laid them on the pottery shards, and then cut them into small pieces of 2 millimeters square.
Wu Huan picked up a small triangular sail mussel, placed it on the support, and then used the opening support to open the triangular sail mussel. Wu Huan used tweezers to pick up a small piece of the mantle, used a small hook to make an opening in the mantle of the triangular sail mussel, and then put the small piece of the mantle inside.
As Wu Huan planted them, he explained, "Usually, you plant between 22 and 32, 12 to 16 on each side. Try to plant them in the lower middle part, close to the bottom. Keep the two planting points far apart, and don't put them on the shell, otherwise all your efforts will be wasted. Do you see clearly? Plant them in the middle, without piercing the inner layer."
Wu Huan planted two triangular sail mussels in succession, and then asked He Gui to plant them. He Gui planted them very slowly and carefully, but how could blacksmith's hands do such delicate work? Either the needle pierced the mantle, or small pieces of the mantle fell inside, making Wu Huan shake his head.
Chapter 500 Plucking Feathers from a Passing Goose (Seeking Subscriptions, Monthly Tickets, and Recommendations)
Song the Dwarf said, "Young master, don't worry about that. A few more taps and the problem you mentioned will be gone."
Wu Huan handed the completed gun barrel sketch to Song Aizi and said, "The diameter and inner diameter of these six iron pipes must match the drawing exactly, without the slightest difference."
Song the Dwarf knew what that "micrometer" meant, so he asked, "Does it need to be this high precision?"
Wu Huan nodded and said, "Can you make it?"
Song the Dwarf: "I'll try my best. I can't guarantee I'll be able to make it, but I'll do my best."
Wu Huan: "How long will it take to make?"
Song the Dwarf said, "Two days, come pick it up the day after tomorrow."
Wu Huan: "Then thank you in advance, Master."
Song the Shorty stood there, speechless.
After Luo Luyuan and Wu Huan left the artisan camp, Luo Luyuan scolded Wu Huan, saying, "Why are you thanking a slave worker?"
"Work slaves?" Wu Huan was extremely surprised!
Luo Luyuan: "Yes! They are labor slaves, that is, slaves."
Wu Huan suddenly realized: "No wonder the manager wouldn't lend us this man for a few days, he's a slave! He's probably afraid he'll run away. By the way, since he's a slave, can we buy one?"
Luo Luyuan looked at Wu Huan as if he were crazy: "You want to rebel? Do you think you can just have these slave laborers as you please?"
Seeing Wu Huan's innocent look, Luo Luyuan knew that Wu Huan truly didn't know the serious implications. He sighed and said, "Alright, you've been in the woods for too long and don't know what's going on outside. It's not your fault."
After the great chaos ensued, everyone realized the importance of artisans. To become a king or a powerful ruler, one needed a strong army. Where did the army's weapons and armor come from? From artisans, there was nothing else. Therefore, whether it was the likes of Li Zitong or Li Yuan, their first act was to enslave the artisans.
Wu Huan suddenly realized: "So that's how it is!"
Wu Huan went home, glanced at He Gui, and then immersed himself in his bullet project. The most crucial component of a bullet is the primer.
The bottom fire cup for the bottom fire is difficult to maintain, but the most troublesome part is the preparation of mercury fulminate. Wu Huan knows how to dry distill saltpeter to obtain nitric acid, and he also knows how to react with mercury and then with ethanol. The whole process is numerous and complex, and just preparing nitric acid and ethanol requires a lot of effort.
Actually, Wu Huan was lucky because with Luo Luyuan's help, raw materials were not a problem at all; otherwise, just finding raw materials would have driven Wu Huan crazy.
Both bullet casings and bullets need to wait for the barrel, otherwise they will easily become scrap. In the end, it is still a lack of trust in the technology of this era.
Seeing Wu Huan busy with this and that, and realizing he couldn't help, He Gui didn't want to sleep. He would get up and wander around, looking here and there. When Wu Huan wasn't around, he would often sigh deeply. He felt like a useless person, that he was of no use to Wu Huan, and spent his days wallowing in self-pity, quickly becoming thinner and thinner.
Wu Huan was unwilling to see He Gui like this, and he felt that He Gui should do something. He wouldn't let He Gui participate in gun manufacturing, since Wu Huan didn't plan to bring He Gui to Chang'an right now, and knowing about gun manufacturing would bring unpredictable dangers to He Gui.
After much deliberation, Wu Huan decided to have He Gui settle in Hangzhou and help him look after the pearl oysters.
Wu Huan called He Gui over and asked, "How's your injury?"
He Gui: "My eyes are fine, but my shoulder still aches slightly."
Wu Huan said, "I know you've been feeling sorry for yourself these past few days, afraid that I'll abandon you. We're brothers who've been through life and death together, how could I abandon you?"
He Gui blushed and said, "I'm not worried that my master will abandon me, but... I'm afraid of being a burden to my master."
Wu Huan said, "What are you saying? No matter what, you'll always be my best brother. Don't talk about being a burden. You know how dangerous it is to go to Chang'an this time, so you can't come with me."
He Gui grew anxious: "Why can't Master go to Chang'an? Is it because I'm blind, or because I'm weak in one hand? I can make the bed for Master, I can serve Master at his beck and call..."
Wu Huan shook his head: "Agui, you really can't go to Chang'an, because there's something more important for you. It concerns my future and how well we'll live the rest of our lives!"
He Gui was skeptical when he heard Wu Huan's words: "Master, what is it?"
Wu Huan pointed to the triangular sail clam thrown into the water tank and said, "Because of it!"
He Gui: "Those clams?"
After much deliberation, Wu Huan decided not to tell He Gui the truth, fearing that if things changed in Hangzhou in the future, He Gui, given his personality, might stubbornly cling to the pearl oyster and lose his life in vain.
Wu Huan: "Yes! I'll use these clams a lot in the future. Also, you'll need to cultivate these two things."
Wu Huan took out two dried chilies, a sweet potato, and a purple sweet potato.
He Gui asked curiously, "What are these two things?"
Wu Huan said, "These are chili peppers, sweet potatoes, and purple sweet potatoes. Keep them safe for now, and I'll teach you how to grow them later. For now, let me teach you how to handle these clams."
Wu Huan also grows pearls, a beautiful chapter in his past. To others, Wu Huan is someone who enjoys being surrounded by beautiful women. This is because the pearl growers were all pretty young women—not just one or two, but a group, dozens.
Wu Huan, just beginning to experience romantic feelings, naturally enjoyed mingling among these girls. After spending a lot of time with them, he naturally learned the craft of pearl cultivation. Occasionally, he would even cover for the girls he admired for a while, allowing them to get some fresh air or take care of their personal needs.
Wu Huan said to He Gui, "I'll do it for you to see. If you don't understand, just ask."
Wu Huan took the triangular sail clam out of the water tank and put it in the water basin. Then he took out a set of tools that he had been using for a long time: a small, pointed hook, a knife, tweezers, an opening support, a large wooden support, and a clean piece of pottery.
Since there were no glass shards in the world, Wu Huan had no intention of making glass after selling his bow and arrows, so he used ceramic shards instead.
Wu Huan sterilized the tools in boiling water and then took them out. He opened a large triangular sail mussel, cut off its mantle membranes on both sides, laid them on the pottery shards, and then cut them into small pieces of 2 millimeters square.
Wu Huan picked up a small triangular sail mussel, placed it on the support, and then used the opening support to open the triangular sail mussel. Wu Huan used tweezers to pick up a small piece of the mantle, used a small hook to make an opening in the mantle of the triangular sail mussel, and then put the small piece of the mantle inside.
As Wu Huan planted them, he explained, "Usually, you plant between 22 and 32, 12 to 16 on each side. Try to plant them in the lower middle part, close to the bottom. Keep the two planting points far apart, and don't put them on the shell, otherwise all your efforts will be wasted. Do you see clearly? Plant them in the middle, without piercing the inner layer."
Wu Huan planted two triangular sail mussels in succession, and then asked He Gui to plant them. He Gui planted them very slowly and carefully, but how could blacksmith's hands do such delicate work? Either the needle pierced the mantle, or small pieces of the mantle fell inside, making Wu Huan shake his head.
Chapter 501 Here I Come to the Tushita Palace (Please subscribe, please vote, please recommend)
As Lin Qing was walking along the corridor, suddenly, an immortal appeared from a distance. Lin Qing didn't pay any attention to it, moved a little to the side, and continued walking.
He was still thinking that he definitely couldn't go to the Tushita Palace, he couldn't find the place, and there was a high probability that Laozi was also in the Tushita Palace.
Then the only option is to go to the Peach Garden, since the Queen Mother couldn't possibly be there.
"Where does this immortal wish to go?" The celestial official who was walking towards Lin Qing stopped in front of him and asked respectfully.
"Why are you asking this?" Lin Qing said calmly.
“I am a guide in the Heavenly Court. My job is to guide other immortals. Judging from your appearance, I know you are new here, which is why I asked this question.”
Even so, if the guide hadn't just received the news from the guards at the South Heavenly Gate, would he have taken the initiative to guide others?
Unless it's some high-level deity or a supreme being speaking up, it's none of his business whether those little people get lost or not.
An immortal holding the Jade Emperor's token—that must be a very important person, so he came.
Lin Qing immediately said, "I want to go to the Tushita Palace. Do you know where it is?"
"Doushuai Palace? Could it be that the immortal is preparing to go to Laozi to refine elixirs?" the guide asked with slight surprise.
Lin Qing replied perfunctorily, "That's right, I went to Laozi to refine elixirs."
The guide said, "That's really unfortunate. Laozi has been invited by the Buddha of the West to attend the Ten Thousand Buddhas Assembly."
"Oh? Is that so? That's such a pity." Though he said it was a pity, he was actually extremely happy inside.
"Alright then, take me to the Tushita Palace first. I'll tell Laozi's attendant what elixir I need to refine, and also ask when Laozi will return," Lin Qing said with a smile.