Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 272 Another reason to occupy Japan! [Seeking monthly votes]

A few seconds after the grenade was thrown, it exploded with a loud bang.

Several scarecrows were placed in the test blasting area, their bodies wrapped in starched burlap to mimic human skin.

The explosion flashed brightly, followed by a plume of black smoke. Zhao Ji joked:
"I don't know how powerful it is, but it certainly made quite a commotion. The book says that magnesium powder can flash, I wonder if adding some will increase the brightness and thus cause blindness... This is something worth studying."

After the smoke cleared, the two went to the blast area to check the effect.

The grenade had completely shattered, with shrapnel scattered everywhere. Some shrapnel even hit the dummy, and a shallow crater was blasted into the ground, with signs of soil rising up.

But apart from that, there's nothing else.

Zhao Ji glanced at the shrapnel that had splashed onto the dummy and began to summarize the effects of the explosion:
"The fuse is too long. It takes five or six seconds for the grenade to explode after it is thrown out. The enemy has plenty of time to throw the grenade back. This aspect needs to be improved."

"The explosive power is generally average, but it can be expanded to other forms of power, such as incendiary bombs, poison gas bombs, flashbangs, etc., as mentioned in the book."

"Too little gunpowder is not enough, and too much will not be able to be thrown out. We should use cannons or catapults to launch the explosive charges."

"The limitations of black powder are still too great. If possible, we should still focus on yellow explosives and make nitrocellulose or nitroglycerin."

"..."

He summarized each point one by one and wrote them down solemnly in a small notebook.

After summarizing, a new round of experiments began. This time, he used a replica of a melon grenade, with a surface covered with tortoise shell-like patterns to facilitate the splitting into more lethal shrapnel after the explosion.

Pour black powder into the cavity of the grenade, insert a quick-ignition fuse, and tighten the cap.

With everything ready, he lit the fuse and threw it out.

"boom!"

After switching to a fast-burning fuse, the explosion speed increased significantly, and the overall iron casing also increased its power.

When the smoke cleared, Zhao Ji walked over and saw that the killing power was significantly stronger. The lower half of the scarecrow's body had multiple shrapnel fragments, making it much more powerful than a wooden-handled grenade.

The Military Equipment Bureau stated:

“We can send some to the front lines temporarily, see the soldiers’ feedback, and then make improvements. It just doesn’t feel right to work out of the way of actual combat.”

Emperor Huizong agreed to manufacture some, but refused to send any to the front lines:

"My imperial brother will soon be leading the expedition in person; let him take him with him then."

The melon grenade made the most of black powder, but the explosive effect was still mediocre, and black powder was too susceptible to moisture, making it very difficult to preserve.

The two of them listed all of these things and planned to give them to Li Qingzhao so that she could help them resolve the issues.

The potential of black powder was too limited. Emperor Huizong scratched his head, opened the royal archives, and began to look at the process of manufacturing concentrated sulfuric acid.

Starting in the Tang Dynasty, some Taoist alchemists obtained concentrated sulfuric acid by dry distilling ferrous sulfate, and named it alum oil, a method that was ahead of Western countries for many years.

"With any medicine he can use, all medicines become divine... These Taoist priests are truly fearless!"

The Taoist priests extracted concentrated sulfuric acid, but instead of conducting chemical experiments, they added it to various elixirs of immortality. Many ingredients would react under the influence of the concentrated sulfuric acid, which they believed to be miraculous medicines.

Zhao Ji shook his head, feeling that his predecessors' actions were too bold and reckless. Among the ancient books collected by the royal family, there was even a saying that "drink it while it's hot and you'll ascend to heaven immediately."

Drinking concentrated sulfuric acid while it's still hot—is this because you think the pain you've endured isn't intense enough?

To obtain explosives, you need to upgrade the technology tree by upgrading the three acids and two bases in sequence. Concentrated sulfuric acid, which is used for experiments, is easy to obtain. With sulfuric acid, you can make hydrochloric acid and nitric acid using salt and saltpeter.

However, the Taoist priests' dry distillation method yielded too little output for large-scale production. Zhao Ji planned to seek a tutorial on modern sulfuric acid production methods, such as the lead chamber method or the contact method, both of which could produce sulfuric acid on a large scale.

If the conditions are not met, then we should acquire a distillation unit, purchase large quantities of ferrous sulfate, and produce sulfuric acid using a laborious method.

With sulfuric acid, it's equivalent to having hydrochloric acid and nitric acid; the lamp of these three acids is now lit.

The Ministry of War Equipment summoned the official in charge of materials to inquire about the quantity of ferrous sulfate to be purchased. They were told that the production was very small and that even if all of it were dry distilled, not much sulfuric acid could be obtained.

These words unconsciously led Emperor Huizong to focus his attention on Japan:

"There are many natural sulfur mines there. We should write to His Majesty as soon as possible and request that a fleet be dispatched to purchase them, the more the better."

Natural sulfur is a byproduct of volcanoes. Island nations have many volcanoes, and high-purity sulfur is very common. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Japanese sulfur was considered a high-end sulfur and was extremely popular in China.

The Military Equipment Bureau asked:

"The war is now critical, and the fleet's voyages at sea have incurred enormous expenses. What should we do?"

“My brother will make all the arrangements. You just need to submit a memorial to ask for it. At worst, we can confiscate the property of two more corrupt officials. Once we figure out the shipping routes, we will take Japan in one fell swoop, and then we won’t have to pay for it anymore.”

After saying this, Zhao Ji rode a fast horse away from the gunpowder workshop and arrived at Li Qingzhao's house. He recounted the results of today's experiment in detail and also talked about the new problems they had recently encountered.

Li Qingzhao said:
"The problem of gunpowder getting damp is easy to solve. Next time I will bring a vacuum machine, put the finished black powder into bags, remove the air and seal them for storage. When we get to the Western Xia front, we can open and refill them."

She spoke so casually, but Zhao Ji was completely dumbfounded:
"Such a treasure exists?"

"That's nothing. The Immortal Master has already started using drones and robot dogs in combat, remotely controlling them without needing anyone to show their face. It's incredibly convenient." Zhao Ji listened, his heart filled with longing.

"Our Great Song Dynasty must also catch up and surpass them, recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun as soon as possible, and restore the glory of China!"

On the other side, in the world after Zhou.

After the oath-taking ceremony in Xiongzhou, Guo Rong personally led the central army northward, while Zhao Kuangyin led the vanguard, capturing Guiyi City first, and then marching straight to Zhuozhou, the capital of Fanyang County.

This is the gateway to Youzhou, where a large number of Khitan troops are stationed, making it the toughest nut to crack on the road to the Northern Expedition against Youzhou.

When they arrived at Guiyi City, it was already late, and the army began to rest.

Guo Rong sat in the camp, carefully considering the current predicament. Men, food, weapons, military pay... it seemed like everything was lacking, especially military pay. If it wasn't enough, it would be fatal.

He rubbed his temples, planning to go to Hunyuan Palace tomorrow to ask the experts from various worlds for help in finding a solution.

Guo Rong compiled a list of the urgent problems, opened a box with a copper lock, took out a bag, and inside the bag was a wooden plaque with the five characters "Inspector to be Emperor" written on it.

"Regardless of who placed this card, we'll find out tomorrow!"

After obtaining the plaque, he inquired about it for several days but couldn't find out the truth. Unfortunately, Wang Pu, a trusted minister, had already passed away, otherwise he would have been able to find out the origin of the plaque.

Since we can't find out the truth now, let's just stop investigating and ask the gods to help us sort it out.

Guo Rong is a man who cannot tolerate any wrongdoing. He solves problems without hesitation and never lets anything slide... If criminal investigation methods don't work, then he'll resort to metaphysical methods!
At the same time, in Yunwu Town.

Zhou Yi and Wu Meiniang went down the mountain for a meal and ran into Li Yongkang and Wang Ge testing a new drone.

This is a quadcopter drone, usually used for spraying pesticides, but here it has a large loudspeaker hanging from it, which looks both comical and funny.

The Book of Changes asks:

"What kind of design is this? Are they using drones for square dancing?"

Wang Ge said:

"This is a disaster relief drone. When danger occurs, it can rise into the air and use loudspeakers to tell residents to come out of their homes. The voice is quite loud and can travel a long distance."

Zhou Yi looked at it from left to right, becoming interested:
How long do the speaker batteries last?

"I haven't counted, but half an hour is enough. We just played several songs and it only used one bar of battery."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi said:

"Get me one. If Hunyuan Palace becomes popular in the future, I'll use a drone to preach and give the believers a little shock."

Wang Ge felt that Zhou Yi was planning too far ahead of time. Hunyuan Palace still doesn't have many worshippers, even though it looks like it's always packed with them.

Li Yongkang didn't care about that; he would sell to anyone who wanted it. He immediately installed a device and even included two spare batteries, which was very thoughtful.

After finishing his meal and returning to the mountain, Zhou Yi charged the drone.

Wu Zetian stuffed the clothes the two had changed out of into the washing machine for washing, then looked around at the drone from left to right:
"Did you buy this for easier communication, Immortal Master? Actually, a regular outdoor speaker would suffice; I've recently collected several models..."

The Book of Changes says:

“Buy whatever you want, no need to collect. Now there’s the consultant fee from the cemetery, plus Fang Hongyan’s, the net income is 600,000 a year, so there’s no need to be stingy anymore.”

Wu Zetian smiled gently:
"I just wanted to compare prices, not that I'm stingy... When Guo Rong comes here tomorrow, I'll explain the precautions to him, then take the cutting machine back with me. I'll also ask His Majesty to send people to Yanzhou to look for oil and explore ways to distill gasoline and diesel... Will the remaining residue be of any use?"

Zhou Yi nodded:

“Those residues are heavy oil, an important fuel for steam turbines. If the production of heavy oil is stable, I can buy a generator that burns heavy oil for you to use. You can buy these things online.”

"Thank you, Immortal!"

The next morning, Zhou Yi was eating the burnt eggs that Wu Meiniang had fried when Guo Rong, dressed in plain clothes, arrived.

Heeding Wang Pu's advice, he presented a golden bowl, signifying his intention to beg for food at Hunyuan Palace.

Wu Zetian accepted it on behalf of Zhou Yi:
"Next time you come, you can write a letter of offering, explaining that this bowl was presented by the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty."

Guo Rong understood immediately:
"Understood, I will write it on the most expensive silk when I get back."

After saying this, he took out a wooden plaque from his bag and respectfully said:

"Not long ago, I accidentally found this item in the memorials to the throne. No one around me knows where it came from. I would like to ask the immortal to help me answer my questions and find out the origin of this item."

Zhou Yi believes it might be a trick by Zhao Kuangyi or Zhao Pu, but it's hard to say for sure who did it.

He pointed to the dining table and said:

"Let's have dinner together. After dinner, I'll do a divination, and the person behind this will immediately come to light."

(End of this chapter)