In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

"Based on this calculation, 130,000 catties of saltpeter can only be purified to produce 13,000 catties of finished product."

"After accounting for losses, this amount can only produce about 15,000 catties of black powder."

"This quantity is not small, but it's needed to deal with the entire Goguryeo, all the mountain fortresses, heavy armor, and large-scale legions. It's not enough."

Li Yuanchang muttered to himself, his expression grim.

He had probably made some calculations in his mind. Combining the failure of Li Shimin's first attack, he estimated that even if it was a fatal blow, even if the strategy was completely successful.

He needs to fight at least two tough battles. The first is Anshi City, which is a necessary route. If he doesn't take it first, his army will face the risk of being surrounded.

Even if he had gunpowder, he wouldn't dare to try it.

The only way is to destroy Ansi City in the shortest possible time, and then, with lightning speed, storm into Chang'an, the capital of Goguryeo!

The capital of Goguryeo was also called Chang'an at this time, and its location was probably somewhere on the peninsula in later times.

A mere 15,000 catties of gunpowder would probably be barely enough to blow up two mountain cities.

Li Yuanchang shook his head, clearing his mind of distractions. Something was better than nothing; he should get the finished product out first.

Having lived two lives, he firmly believes that paths are made by walking, no matter how difficult they are; just do it, even if you do it poorly.

Without rest, he began purifying the sulfur.

He used the oil-frying method from the Ming Dynasty to fry the sulfur, crushing it and boiling it with sesame oil and cypress leaves.

In ancient times, with limited resources, the process was very complicated and time-consuming. Li Yuanchang dared not be careless at all, because any mistake would mean the loss of this batch of raw materials.

Time just slipped away, little by little.

After a day and a night, the first small batch of purified product was finally produced.

Li Yuanchang was exhausted, his face covered in soot, but his eyes were bright and alert.

At this time, the production of gunpowder had just begun.

Once all the materials are purified and usable, the next step is "mixing and wet pounding," which is also the most dangerous step in making black powder. If there is any mistake, the black powder will explode on the spot!

"call!"

Li Yuanchang exhaled a breath of stale air, carefully placed the three main ingredients into the container according to the proportions, and then picked up the wooden pestle and began to gently chisel.

This wooden pestle is not an ordinary wooden pestle, but one with a copper casing, which prevents friction from causing a fire.

According to the standards of the Ming Dynasty, it required more than "ten thousand poundings" until the gunpowder was completely fine and uniform.

Li Yuanchang was chiseling with his right hand while holding a basin of water in his left, adding water from time to time to keep it moist and prevent it from drying out and getting too hot.

If even the slightest mistake had been made during this process, Li Yuanchang would likely have died before achieving his goal, becoming the first person in Chinese history to sacrifice his life for the research of gunpowder.

He held his breath with every chisel stroke, each stroke was gentle and slow, as if he were treating a woman, afraid of hurting her if he was too heavy, and afraid of not getting the desired effect if he was too light.

Time ticked by, and no one knew what Li Yuanchang was doing in this simple workshop.

All the soldiers received strict orders not to allow anyone to enter. Even when food was delivered, it was simply placed on a stone for Li Yuanchang to eat when he had time.

The food had long since gone cold in the winter, and Huang Tu and the others had reheated it time and time again, but Li Yuanchang still didn't eat it.

At this moment, in this bitterly cold season, he was actually covered in sweat!

It requires 10,000 chiseling operations, which is a physically demanding job.

If we were to translate this into matters between men and women, at 10,000 dollars per encounter, I doubt any human could manage it; it would require the physical strength of an animal.

Li Yuanchang's entire arm was almost numb, stiff, and had lost all feeling.

But he didn't want to stop and rest; he couldn't wait to create gunpowder.

With this, he would be completely secure in his livelihood, utterly fearless of suspicion and elimination from those in power.

This was not only related to the outcome of the war against Goguryeo, and not only to his personal survival, but also to the vital existence of countless lives in the Han Prince's mansion!

The Han Prince's Mansion has evolved to the point where it is no longer the mansion with only a few hundred people.

So many brothers, so many confidants, and even so many common people who depend on the Prince of Han's mansion—all of this could become a sacrifice during the power transition.

Then they will all be buried with them, regardless of gender, age, or relationship.

This is the terrifying aspect of ancient politics; its bloodshed far exceeds the imagination of later generations. Even in historical records, the truth is often embellished, and the author is deliberately portrayed as weak.

In reality, it's better to kill ten thousand than to let one go!

It took nearly two hours to slowly crush the ten pounds of gunpowder.

With profuse thanks, the gunpowder did not explode due to friction and overheating under Li Yuanchang's gentle and slow manipulation.

boom!

"call!!"

Li Yuanchang slumped to the ground, breathing heavily, too exhausted to lift his arms. This was definitely more strenuous than holding a woman while doing *that*.

He wiped the sweat away hard; his entire back was soaked. The more he twisted back, the tighter it became, as if afraid of being hit with a big firework at the last second.

After a short rest, he began the final work, namely granulation and air drying.

Granulation is essentially sieving to prevent stratification caused by differences in particle size after filling.

Air drying, on the other hand, is simply sun drying, but instead of direct sunlight, it involves placing the product in a cool, shady place to dry slowly.

After it has dried in the shade, it can be filled and then the strength tested.

While he was drying in the shade, Li Yuanchang finally found an opportunity to eat and wash away the charcoal, dirt, and sweat stains from his body.

He then personally guarded the gunpowder and slept soundly for a long time.

Three days and three nights had passed by the time the first batch of gunpowder finished product had dried in the shade, and Li Yuanchang had not shown his face once during this period.

He didn't concern himself with any of the military affairs, focusing instead on developing gunpowder. He even used the powdered gunpowder to make simple fuses by mixing it into hemp ropes.

Finally, it was noon on the fourth day!

Li Yuanchang felt it was about time and immediately brought out the earthenware pot that had been prepared beforehand.

In ancient times, there were no means to make grenade containers from copper or iron sheets, so earthenware pots were the only containers that could hold a lot of energy.

Since it was his first time making a finished "hand grenade," he didn't dare to fill it with too much at once. The first earthenware pot was only filled with about two kilograms of finished gunpowder.

After loading, Li Yuanchang carefully moved a stone slab over and placed it on top, then put in the fuse and turned on the ignition!

At that moment, his heart was pounding wildly, sweat dripped from his nose, and his arms were even trembling!

This was even more exciting than when he pushed Yin Yao and called her "sister-in-law".

As the tinderbox lit the fuse, a hissing sound instantly rang out.

The first unexpected event occurred suddenly. It seemed that he had added too much powder when he first started rubbing the fuse by hand. Unexpectedly, the fuse burned like a rocket and burned out in an instant.

Holy crap!

Li Yuanchang cursed loudly, and almost instinctively, his hair stood on end. He rolled backward and fell into the trench that had been dug in advance.