Diphenylamine alcohol requires the production of diphenylamine first, then dissolving it in anhydrous alcohol.
Diphenylamine, in turn, requires aniline and aniline hydrochloride.
Aniline requires nitrobenzene, ferrous chloride, and iron filings.
Aniline hydrochloride requires aniline and hydrochloric acid.
Well, it's back to aniline.
The key to this matter has shifted to nitrobenzene.
Nitrobenzene requires extracting benzene first.
Benzene is obtained through further refining of crude benzene, a by-product of coking. However, the current capabilities for collecting and processing gases are insufficient. Even if it could be collected, refining benzene carries the risk of explosion if not handled carefully! Fang Er was about to collapse, feeling like he had fallen into a vicious cycle.
But he had no choice but to grit his teeth and push on. Only by producing nitrocellulose could smokeless gunpowder be made. He couldn't be defeated by this step, could he?
The previous coking furnace was definitely unusable, so another one had to be hastily constructed by the Longshou Canal.
People were sent to buy large quantities of coal from the city.
Building one furnace took over half a month, mainly because this furnace was very different from the previous one.
In addition to the coking chamber, there were also connected naphthalene washing towers and benzene washing towers.
After the furnace was completed, Fang Family Village resumed coking operations.
Coal after coal was thrown in, refined into coke, and then extracted.
Large amounts of coal tar were collected, heated, and separated into wash oil, which was then used to treat the subsequent coal gas to obtain crude benzene.
At this point, it was only the beginning.
Throughout the entire process, Old Daoist Yuan accompanied Fang Er, holding a small notebook and diligently recording everything Fang Er did.
Fang Er was also uncertain. He was only following what was written in the books. Who knew if it would work? But he had come this far, so he couldn't falter now.
Barrels of pale yellow crude benzene were collected, awaiting further purification and refining.
After days of arduous work, when the first drop of aniline alcohol was produced, Fang Er felt like crying!
It was too difficult! This was not work for humans. He glanced at Old Daoist Yuan, who was still energetic, and wondered where he got so much stamina.
"True Man Yuan, have you recorded it all?"
Old Yuan proudly replied, "What's so difficult about it!"
Well, comparing oneself to others can be discouraging. He truly deserved to be called a master of furnaces, understanding even a different kind of furnace.
Fang Er admired such talented people!
Carrying the freshly made aniline alcohol, he returned to the Taoist temple and immersed the semi-finished nitrocellulose they had made earlier into it, then took it out again to dry.
This finally completed the preparation of nitrocellulose.
Finally, only the dissolution of nitrocellulose with a mixture of ethanol and ether was left to obtain gelatinous smokeless gunpowder.
Lao Yuan pointed to the freshly made gunpowder with some curiosity, "Is this what the Marquis of Liaodong has been busy with for so many days?"
Fang Er nodded.
Then, he took out a bullet from his pistol, opened the casing, and poured out the black powder inside. He refilled the casing with smokeless gunpowder and reinstalled the primer.
With the bullet chambered, Fang Er aimed at a large tree in the courtyard and pulled the trigger.
After the gunshot, Fang Er clearly felt that there was almost no smoke from the muzzle.
Previously, when using black powder bullets, a cloud of gray smoke would escape with the ejected casing, and the muzzle flash was also much smaller.
He pulled the trigger again, this time with a previous black powder bullet.
The bullet, accompanied by distinct smoke and muzzle flash, shot out from the barrel and hit the tree.
With a crack, wood chips flew.
Yuan Tiangang finally understood the purpose of their hard work over the past few days.
"Heh heh, this old daoist can use this to improve his palm thunder!"
"How about making a purple-gold gourd?"
Old Yuan looked at the two craters of different depths, already calculating in his mind how to use smokeless gunpowder to impress.
"True Man Yuan, from now on, the refining of this kind of gunpowder will be handed over to the true men of the Taoist temple, how about it? A processing fee of ten taels of silver per jin, and all raw materials will be provided by this young man."
Fang Er looked at Yuan Tiangang expectantly.
"This thing is too dangerous; it's better to let the Taoist sect handle it."
At least, the three acids and two alkalis are no longer a difficult task for the Taoist temple.
Yuan Tiangang agreed without hesitation.
There were no ghost-catching or demon-fighting jobs available at the moment.
His disciples and grand-disciples were all idle and doing nothing. Earning some money was better than just being useless.
After bidding farewell to Yuan Tiangang, Fang Er returned to the vocational school with a bag of smokeless gunpowder.
The Zhongzheng rifle had been at the vocational school for over half a month. It was time to make the bullets and let it make its debut!
During the days he was making smokeless gunpowder, Zhao Gang and the others had also produced a small batch of primers using the teaching equipment at the vocational school.
It had to be said that Zhao Gang was truly dedicated to the New Eastern technology. All the equipment in the workshop had been miniaturized and replicated at the vocational school.
The purpose was to allow students to have a more direct understanding and to be able to operate the equipment themselves during lectures.
Unlike black powder, smokeless gunpowder requires more precision in the amount of propellant.
For this purpose, Fang Er also created a small balance, which could be considered the first smallest weighing tool in the Great Tang.
As for the definition of grams, it was to weigh one liang of water and then take one-fiftieth of its weight.
Of course, it might not be accurate, but it was sufficient for temporary use.
The actual redefinition of weight would have to wait until he acquired an electronic scale.
With less than six liang of smokeless gunpowder, Fang Er produced nearly two hundred bullets, with each bullet containing about 1.5 grams of propellant.
The golden brass-jacketed lead bullets were fixed in groups of five using a cartridge clip, making loading easier.
The Zhongzheng rifle had a magazine capacity of five rounds. He pulled open the magazine, picked up a cartridge clip, pushed the bullets into it, and with a click, the magazine was closed.
Fang Er picked up the Zhongzheng rifle and walked out of the room.
ps: Sixth update. Still love you all. Muah!