The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 94 Official Gazette
"Grind these things into a very fine powder, and do it."

After listening, the captain ordered someone to fetch a medicine grinding boat, mortar and pestle, pestle and mortar from the pharmacy, and then called a group of prisoners to start grinding.

Lin Qian then ordered the captain to find someone to make masks from cotton cloth and give them to the prisoners who were grinding.

After giving the instructions, Lin Qian sat down in a chair and took out the official gazette from her bosom to read.

The gazette used a lot of rare characters, and since it had no punctuation and was all in traditional characters, Lin Qian read it very slowly.

It seems he overestimated his literacy skills; the illiteracy rate on the island should be 0.25 people more.

By the light of an oil lamp, Lin Qian managed to decipher the first paragraph of the official gazette.

"On the first day of the eighth month, the Emperor ascended the throne in the Zhongji Hall, received the congratulations of all the officials, and issued the imperial edict granting him the privilege of ascending the throne:"
My late father, the Emperor, reigned for forty-eight years, his profound benevolence and kindness permeating the hearts of the people. Now that he has passed away, my heart is broken. On the first day of the eighth month, I respectfully announce to Heaven, Earth, the ancestral temples, and the altars of the land and grain that I hereby ascend the throne.

Given the weight of this entrustment, generous terms should be laid out. All matters to be undertaken are listed below:
......"

This section, totaling several thousand words, mainly describes the policies and measures implemented by the newly enthroned Emperor Taichang. The content is all excerpted from Emperor Taichang's enthronement edict.

The main policies promulgated included abolishing mining and salt taxes; reinstating officials who had been dismissed from office for speaking out against the previous dynasty; reducing or exempting taxes owed by various provinces; and allocating one million taels of silver from the imperial treasury to reward the border troops.

Judging from the edicts alone, they were all benevolent policies that improved the various long-standing problems of the Wanli era.

In particular, the money-grubbing Wanli Emperor would never have done something like allocating funds from the imperial treasury to reward the border troops unless he was in dire need of money.

Judging solely from the comparison between the two emperors, Emperor Taichang possessed the qualities of a wise ruler, and the political situation of the Ming Dynasty showed signs of gradually becoming more enlightened.

Unfortunately, history played a cruel joke.

Today is the 23rd of August, and Emperor Taichang is already seriously ill. Li Kezhuo is frantically preparing to present him with the elixir of immortality.

In less than ten days, Emperor Taichang will die after taking two red pills of elixir.

As Lin Qian was feeling sentimental, the militia team brought over the ground graphite and red lead powder.

Lin Qian frowned after just one glance and said, "Too coarse. It needs to be as fine as powder. Grind it again and then sieve it."

"Yes."

As the militia returned, they berated the prisoners and ordered them to grind the grain even finer.

The second paragraph in the official gazette mentions "the departure of the coffin".

In plain language, it refers to the arrangements for the late emperor's funeral, including the date, ceremonial procession, and the specifications of the mausoleum.

This was meaningless to Lin Qian, so she ignored it.

The third paragraph of the official gazette discusses personnel appointments and removals.

Fang Congzhe was retained as Grand Secretary, Liu Yizhu and Han Kuang were appointed to the cabinet, and Wang Dewan, Zou Yuanbiao and other outspoken ministers were recalled.

Of these people, Lin Qian was only familiar with Fang Congzhe; she had only heard of the names of a few, or had never heard of them at all.

On a macro level, however, this personnel appointment and removal can be seen as a favor to veteran officials and the promotion of new ones, which is conducive to a smooth transition between the two dynasties.

Upon seeing this, Lin Qian couldn't help but rub her eyes.

Reading the official gazette under the dim light of a kerosene lamp is indeed a strain on the eyes.

However, the Saint Anne was too far away, and it was inconvenient to send someone back to the ship to retrieve the white wax.

Lin Qian simply put away the official gazette and went to inspect the prisoners.

The prisoners were all emaciated and pale, with only a faint trace of their former ruthlessness remaining in their eyes.

If you get close, you can smell a distinct stench.

The militia, following behind Lin Qian, said, "Captain, just give us your orders. Don't let the stench of these prisoners bother your nose."

Lin Qian asked, "Have these people never taken a bath?"

Militia leader: "No."

When the pirate prisoners came out of the St. Anna's cargo hold, many of them were covered in excrement and urine, and had not been washed off, which explains why they smelled so bad.

Lin Qian instructed: "Starting tomorrow, have these prisoners bathe once a month, using pumice, soap, and fresh water to thoroughly clean them."

"Yes."

There are streams and springs on Nan'ao Island, but the water source is still rainfall, which is greatly affected by the seasons.

Although it was more than enough to support three thousand people, those who live at sea know that fresh water is hard to come by, so they are very frugal.

However, bathing too infrequently can easily lead to disease outbreaks. While it's a minor issue if prisoners die from illness, it would be a much bigger problem if the disease spreads to the islanders.

Lin Qian inspected the area and found the milk mortar sitting to one side, unused, so she asked why.

The militia member replied, "This is for grinding."

"What we need is to grind it finely. Use all of it, grind it hard, and don't stop until you've ground it for a full hour." What Lin Qian was going to do was to use coal as an oxidant to reduce the red lead and release heat, thereby melting the iron gate of the Lin family's water gate.

The reaction equation is: PbO + 4C = 3Pb + 4CO↑

To use an inappropriate analogy, this is the Ming Dynasty version of thermite.

However, at that time, there was no ability to electrolyze aluminum, so they had to settle for using "carbothermic agents".

To bring the carbothermic agent to a sufficient temperature, the material must be ground to an extremely fine degree.

This is why Lin Qian wanted to come to the grinding site herself; such an extreme requirement for the fineness of the materials is something that others simply cannot understand.

Fortunately, although the militia leader could not understand, he was absolutely obedient. He simply replied, "Yes," and then ordered the prisoners to grind the grain more carefully.

Lin Qian looked around, then sat back down in her chair and took out the official gazette.

The next news item was a report from Xiong Tingbi, the Liaodong military commissioner, on the Later Jin's military operations.

Overall, Nurhaci remained very stable during the period of power transition in the Ming Dynasty, and there were no large-scale military mobilizations.

Finally, as was customary, Xiong Tingbi requested the court to allocate military funds.

After that, there was no major news, just routine promotions, transfers, and appointments of officials.

Lin Qian put down the official gazette and revealed a playful smile.

The official gazette made no mention of Consort Zheng, but news of the dismissal of several officials surnamed Zheng appeared in the official appointments and removals.

It seems that with the death of Emperor Wanli, the downfall of the Zheng family, the maternal relatives, was an inevitable trend.

If the situation is allowed to develop unchecked, it is only a matter of time before Consort Zheng is brought to justice.

No wonder Consort Zheng presented beautiful women to Emperor Taichang and also colluded with Emperor Taichang's favorite concubine, Consort Li.

Lin Qian put away the official gazette, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes to rest.

After an unknown amount of time, he was woken up.

Lin Qian looked into the distance and saw the sky turning slightly white, with the morning light appearing.

"Captain, do you think this grinding is fine enough?" the militiaman asked.

Lin Qian looked over and saw two small piles of powder on the table. Even though she used her hand to shield herself from the wind, a lot of it was still blown away.

After a whole night of grinding, the prisoners' hands were all red and swollen.

Lin Qian: "Let's try this first." After saying that, she told Bai Langzai to pack up the materials and return to the dock.

Upon arriving at the dock, Lin Qian did not board the ship. Instead, she had someone set up a shed on the shore, set up tables and chairs, and surrounded it with curtains to block the wind.

The reaction of reducing red lead with charcoal at high temperatures can release heat up to over 1,000 degrees Celsius.

Operating a large sailboat is extremely dangerous; a slight mistake could lead to a major fire.

Furthermore, the reaction generates a large amount of carbon monoxide, posing a risk of poisoning if one is not in a well-ventilated area.

Therefore, Lin Qian deliberately chose an open space on the beach as the experimental site, with people standing upwind.

They also ordered people to bring gunpowder barrels, old weapons, brushes, grease, sugar water, bottles and jars, and other items.

Once everything is ready.

Lin Qian grabbed a handful of black powder from the gunpowder barrel, mixed it with charcoal powder and red lead powder in a certain proportion, and put it into a closed gourd and shook it evenly.

This step also requires physical strength; it's not something you can just do by shaking the bar a couple of times like you would with bartending.

Lin Qian's arms were too tired to keep rocking, so she asked the crew to continue rocking. They rocked for an hour before Lin finally told them to stop.

Lin Qian then drove away the crew, leaving only him and Bai Langzai in the shack.

Lin Qian placed a goose-feather knife on the table, covered the blade with a cloth, and weighed it down with a stone to keep the blade stable and level.

Then Lin Qian carefully opened the gourd's mouth and poured the mixture inside onto the blade.

Estimating that about four ounces had been poured out, Lin Qian put the gourd back in, tightened the mouth of the gourd, and used a twig to slowly pile up the poured-out powder.

Then, next to the pile of powdered medicine, a little black powder was poured separately to ignite it.

"Fire rope." Lin Qianyi stretched out her hand.

Bai Langzai handed over the wooden pole he had prepared beforehand, with a fire rope tied to it. Lin Qian blew the end of the fire rope until it glowed red.

Then he gestured for Bai Langzai to stand back, held up the wooden pole with one arm, and gently touched the end of the fire rope to the ignition point.

(End of this chapter)