121: Chapter 121 Zhang Liang: The opportunity to kill Fusu is now!

Zhao Fusu took out two steel rods. After securing them onto the steam lathe, he used the lathe's drill to make holes in the larger steel rod.

Next, he used a turning tool to grind out the shape of a bullet.

The section at the base of the bullet for the primer was also machined with the turning tool and drilled.

Only when the primer was struck could it ignite the bullet's propellant.

The pointed bullet tips were machined from the smaller steel rod on the lathe using the turning tool.

In one go, Zhao Fusu machined thirty bullet casings.

To create real bullets, he still needed to manufacture the mercury fulminate for the primers and smokeless powder for the propellant.

Zhao Fusu looked over the detailed manufacturing process for mercury fulminate; it was made from three materials: metallic mercury, nitric acid, and ethanol.

Metallic mercury and ethanol were easy to obtain, but he would have to find a way to manufacture the nitric acid.

To manufacture nitric acid, he needed sulfuric acid, the mother of all gunpowder.

Through his daily check-in, Zhao Fusu had obtained the detailed production methods for sulfuric acid and nitric acid using the Cylinder-Tower Method.

This not only recorded how to produce sulfuric acid but also how to produce nitric acid.

The Cylinder-Tower Method for sulfuric acid production was an indigenous method invented by the Eighth Route Army's munitions factories.

Without using lead chambers or stainless steel, large water vats with acid and corrosion resistance were used—one designated as 'male' and one as 'female'—to be joined together and stacked into a cylinder tower.

Holes were drilled in the vats, and each cylinder tower was connected with lead pipes, replacing the lead chamber process with the Cylinder-Tower Method.

There are two methods to produce sulfuric acid: the contact process and the nitration process.

If only the contact process was used, dilute sulfuric acid could be obtained by burning sulfur and green vitriol and then bringing them into contact with water.

By distilling the dilute sulfuric acid multiple times for purification, concentrated sulfuric acid could be obtained.

However, this consumed a large amount of sulfur and green vitriol. The Eighth Route Army had pioneered the Cylinder-Tower Method, which utilized both the contact process and the nitration process.

This nitration process used nitre-rich soil as an oxygen carrier to oxidize sulfur dioxide into sulfur trioxide.

Producing sulfuric acid via the Cylinder-Tower Method greatly reduced the demand for sulfur and green vitriol by adding nitre-rich soil as an oxygen carrier.

Zhao Fusu followed the Cylinder-Tower Method to build the acid-making apparatus.

The soldiers had already gathered the raw materials for him.

Zhao Fusu took these raw materials and used multiple ceramic vats for cyclic evaporation, distilling the dilute sulfuric acid into concentrated sulfuric acid.

With concentrated sulfuric acid, making nitric acid became easy; by placing concentrated sulfuric acid and saltpeter ore in a basin to react, nitric acid could be produced.

Glycerol was extracted from milk of lime.

By treating glycerol with nitric acid and sulfuric acid, a yellow, oily transparent liquid could be obtained: nitroglycerin.

By soaking cotton in nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose could be obtained.

Zhao Fusu didn't have cotton, but he used hemp as a substitute.

Soaking hemp in nitroglycerin could also serve as a substitute for cotton.

At this point, Zhao Fusu had manufactured all the materials for smokeless powder.

Zhao Fusu only dared to do this in a parallel world; if he had done this in the society before his transmigration, he would have made smokeless powder in the morning and been in jail by the evening.

That's what you call trouble sooner or later!

After loading the mercury fulminate into the bullet's primer, filling the bullet with smokeless powder, and seating the bullet head into the casing, a real bullet was finally complete.

Zhao Fusu made five more bullets, and after gathering six in total, he pressed all six bullets into the cylinder.

The revolver had two modes of operation: single-action and double-action.

Zhao Fusu pulled back the hammer, chambering a round.

"Deputy General Pang!"

"Deputy General Pang!"

...

Zhao Fusu shouted loudly.

"His Majesty the Head of State!"

After entering Zhao Fusu's laboratory, Deputy General Pang knelt on one knee.

"Go find me six middle-parted chickens in overalls."

"As you command!"

Having stayed by Zhao Fusu's side for a long time, even though the things Zhao Fusu said were sometimes abstract, Deputy General Pang understood what he meant.

Before long, six middle-parted chickens in overalls were captured and brought over by Deputy General Pang and his men.

Zhao Fusu had Deputy General Pang line up the six chickens in a row fifty meters away.

The effective range of the revolver in his hand was only about fifty meters.

Hitting these six chickens from fifty meters away was still quite difficult.

However, Zhao Fusu could hit targets thirty meters away with a plastic gun, let alone with real iron.

Bang!

As Zhao Fusu pulled the trigger, a massive roar rang out.

Zhao Fusu felt a massive recoil, and the other five chickens began squawking in terror.

Despite being mentally prepared, the revolver's recoil still exceeded Zhao Fusu's expectations.

Nevertheless, he still shot and killed one chicken with a single shot.

"His Majesty the Head of State, what is that object in your hand!"

The massive explosion just now had even startled the fearless Deputy General Pang.

The gunshot was so loud it made his legs go weak.

Looking at the chicken, a large hole had been blasted through it, and it lay in a pool of blood.

There were blood holes in both the front and back, meaning the chicken's body had been shot clean through!

An effective range of fifty meters didn't mean it could only shoot fifty meters!

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

After getting used to the revolver's recoil, Zhao Fusu fired five shots in succession, killing the remaining five chickens.

Afterward, he satisfiedly blew on the heat rising from the muzzle.

The massive gunshots had attracted the surrounding Qin Army.

"His Majesty the Head of State, what weapon is this exactly!"

"This is far too terrifying!"

Deputy General Pang stared at the revolver in Zhao Fusu's hand with great wariness.

If this were to hit a person, wouldn't it cause massive damage!

"A revolver!"

Zhao Fusu said, "In the future, we will all use this kind of weapon!"

"All use this kind of weapon!"

When Deputy General Pang heard Zhao Fusu say this, a look of wild joy couldn't help but appear on his face.

If their troops could be equipped with such a terrifying weapon, what other army could possibly be their match!

After Zhao Fusu ejected the spent casings from the cylinder, he pressed six more bullets inside.

Zhao Fusu felt that just shooting stationary targets was boring; he decided to go up the mountain to hunt wild game.

One gun wasn't enough; he felt he should forge a few more revolvers so he could have a satisfying hunt with each loading.

In one go, Zhao Fusu forged ten revolvers. He looked at the revolvers he had created.

Zhao Fusu tucked two into his waist, two into his calves, two into his thighs, two into his chest, and held two in his hands.

Having made his preparations, he decided to go up the mountain to hunt.

Not a single one of Zhao Fusu's movements escaped Zhang Liang's surveillance.

He immediately found the Six-Fingered Black Knight and Han Qiudao.

"Mohist Giant, Mr. Han Qiudao, the opportunity to slay Fusu is now!"