Chapter 92: Volume Three: Defender of Shunxiang Fort, Chapter Ninety-Two: Scheduled Urination

Volume Three: Defender of Shunxiang Fort, Chapter Ninety-Two: Scheduled Urination

According to Li Maosen, the grenade would need to be very large to have any power. One grenade would require several jin of iron and a large amount of gunpowder, yet its killing effect would be mediocre. Since it was for defending the city anyway, throwing one grenade was not as good as throwing a rolling log or stone — after smashing a few enemy soldiers, the log or stone could still be recovered and reused, while a grenade was gone once thrown.

Similarly, landmines were the same — not to mention the waste of iron and powder, the steel-wheel ignition device was especially difficult to make. In fact, that steel-wheel ignition device was similar to the gear spring of a flintlock, with a very complex structure. There were probably few craftsmen in Shunxiang Fort who could make it. Rather than waste that manpower and material, it was better to put all resources where they were needed.

As for the gunpowder, originally there were only a bit over one hundred twenty jin in the Shunxiang Fort storehouse, enough to make just over two thousand fire-lance charges. After this period of use by the Shunxiang Fort craftsmen and the Shunxiang army, it would soon run out. Without gunpowder, the workers making fixed paper-cartridge ammunition would have to stop work.

Regarding Li Maosen's earlier suggestion to halt the forging of blades, spears, and other weapons, Wang Dou thought it was acceptable. The quantity of long spears currently in the storehouse was sufficient for use, but the lack of gunpowder was more troublesome.

Using gunpowder for mining could save manpower and increase the efficiency of the ironworks. Future large-scale operations, especially if firing cannons, would all require large amounts of gunpowder.

The supply of saltpeter, the raw material for gunpowder, had always troubled Wang Dou. Apart from purchasing it from outside, was there no other way? Could they find a stable, nearby source of saltpeter, like the Koujiagou ironworks?

After leaving the craftsmen's workshop, Wang Dou kept pondering this question. Finally, he summoned the military officers and civil officials of Shunxiang Fort to discuss it.

On this matter, everyone was at a loss. In the end, it was the clerk Feng Dachang who offered a suggestion: post a notice inside Shunxiang Fort to see if, besides purchasing from outside, anyone knew of related mineral deposits near Shunxiang Fort, or had some folk method of accumulating saltpeter.

If anyone could offer a brilliant plan, they would be heavily rewarded with one dan of rice and ten jin of meat.

After the notice was posted, it aroused great interest throughout Shunxiang Fort. Everyone discussed it animatedly, all racking their brains — what method did they have?

The next day, a new military householder suddenly requested an audience, saying he had a method.

Wang Dou was overjoyed and hurriedly had him brought in. Very soon, a large ball of flesh rolled in. Everyone looked — it was a man in his forties, short and chubby, with a round, plump face, quite prosperous-looking. Among the refugees, short and fat people like him were rare. That he had so much flesh on him and had not been eaten by the refugees was his good fortune.

This ball of flesh saluted Wang Dou with a thick Shanxi accent. His name turned out to be Li Zhifen, a very feminine-sounding name. According to his own account, he had been a small landlord in his home village. After disaster struck and his home was raided by bandits, he was the only one left in his family, so he wandered out with the refugees. Following the crowd to Shunxiang Fort and seeing there was food and drink here, he stayed. Every day he stayed in the men's labor camp working alongside everyone else. Hearing that Wang Dou was offering a heavy reward, he came trotting over gleefully.

According to this fellow's own introduction, although he tried his best to beautify himself as a lover of science and chemistry, people like Lin Daofu all believed that from childhood he had been idle and unorthodox, skilled in strange tricks and frivolous arts, and had not studied the proper path. But that was not what Wang Dou cared about; he only cared whether Li Zhifen had a way to produce saltpeter earth.

Li Zhifen made a deep bow: "My lord, why trouble yourself? Saltpeter is everywhere underfoot. In places like stables and granaries, there is limitless saltpeter, beyond what my lord could ever dream of!"

Wang Dou waved a hand: "Lead the way!"

A group of officers followed Li Zhifen as they burrowed through every latrine, stable, pigsty, cowshed, courtyard, and wall corner inside and outside Shunxiang Fort, all getting covered in dust and grime. Li Zhifen's short, stout frame was incredibly nimble as he ducked in and out of stables and cowsheds. Carrying a broom and dustpan, wherever he saw white, fuzzy matter he would sweep it up. Sure enough, what he swept up was all saltpeter earth, and in a short while he had swept up over a dozen jin.

At times he would also stand in the shaded areas of the latrines, assuming a contemplative pose, carefully observing the surface soil. He even took a small piece to taste the flavor, making everyone's faces turn pale. Li Zhifen, however, did not change expression, merely nodding and saying: "Very pungent — this is good saltpeter earth!"

He picked up a hoe and dug out that entire large clump of soil.

For some saltpeter earth he was uncertain about, he took some charcoal, burned it red-hot, then placed the saltpeter earth on top. Seeing some sparks burst forth, he nodded: "Not bad either."

Watching him bustling about, very quickly digging up a large pile of saltpeter earth, probably several dozen jin, Wang Dou and the others stared at those latrines in disbelief. It was hard to imagine that these latrines could be connected to gunpowder. Although Wang Dou had previously read some materials about how collecting certain human and animal urine and feces could produce saltpeter earth, he did not understand exactly how it was made, nor did he know that so much saltpeter earth could be collected from these latrine areas.

He looked at Li Zhifen incredulously and said: "That's it?"

Li Zhifen said: "It still needs a little processing."

He asked Wang Dou to arrange some manpower for him, took some plant ash, crushed and sieved the saltpeter earth and wood ash separately, mixed them and loaded them into a large pot, and began leaching them with hot water. As the liquid was slowly filtered and refined, the concentration gradually lightened from reddish-brown. After cooling and crystallization, pure saltpeter earth was ready.

After that, this saltpeter earth only needed to have sulfur, charcoal, and other materials added in proportion, be crushed and mixed, then ground fine in a stone mill, and black powder would be born. This was something any craftsman in Shunxiang Fort could make.

Seeing Li Zhifen's results, Wang Dou and the others were beside themselves with joy. The gunpowder problem was finally solved. From now on they could be self-sufficient and would no longer be controlled by others.

Li Zhifen also wore an expression of rapture. He said to Wang Dou: "My lord, if you follow this humble one's method, a hundred jin of saltpeter earth per month is a mere trifle. This humble one also has another method that can produce saltpeter earth in large quantities, though it requires many hands and much material."

Wang Dou raised a hand and said: "Very well, from now on you shall be our Shun Fort's Saltpeter Collection Officer, specializing in making and gathering saltpeter earth."

Wang Dou appointed Li Zhifen as Saltpeter Collection Officer and selected several dozen women and old or weak men for his use. For his meritorious suggestion, he also received the heavy reward of one dan of rice and ten jin of meat, making Li Zhifen's plump face bloom with smiles.

Very quickly, Li Zhifen took up his post, leading his several dozen subordinates. They found a specially shaded place and mixed human and animal excrement with sand, granules, stove ash, and the like, piling up several tall manure heaps, and every day at fixed times and fixed points they poured urine over them.

This saltpeter-collecting site, reeking to high heaven, attracted numerous military householder onlookers, and likewise bore the heavy hopes of Wang Dou and the others.

Very soon, living up to expectations, these manure heaps produced a great deal of white natural saltpeter. According to Li Zhifen, this saltpeter-collecting site could easily yield two hundred to three hundred jin of pure saltpeter earth per month, far better than the saltpeter mud dug from latrines and stables.

With two hundred jin of pure saltpeter earth, at least three hundred jin of black powder could be made per month. With this much gunpowder, a series of Wang Dou's plans could proceed. For example, gunpowder mining at the Koujiagou ironworks: with just one hundred miners, they could meet the ore demand for twenty thousand jin of iron material per month, or even more.

Wang Dou had once read a related historical record. The gazetteer of Gaoqing County, Linzi, Shandong recorded that in 1944, in a certain place in Gaoyuan within Gaoqing County, over a thousand people used folk methods to boil saltpeter, producing one hundred fifty tons of fire saltpeter annually — enough fire saltpeter to make two hundred tons of black powder!

A thousand people, two hundred tons of black powder — how many jin was that? Wang Dou could not calculate it for a moment. But with this folk method, at least throughout his military career in the Great Ming, he would never have to worry about the raw materials for gunpowder manufacture. It was just that this required large amounts of human and animal excrement and the like.

Previously, human and animal urine and feces in Shunxiang Fort were all used to fertilize the fields. Now they had an additional function: collecting saltpeter earth for use in battlefield slaughter. Defending home and country — truly too precious.

Wang Dou issued a special order for this: from now on, the military householders of Shunxiang Fort were not allowed to relieve themselves anywhere at will. They had to go to designated latrines and could not seek momentary convenience. Besides maintaining personal hygiene and cleanliness, this was a major matter concerning the life and death of the soldiers and civilians of Shunxiang Fort — no carelessness would be tolerated.

……

The fourteenth day of the fifth month, the ninth year of Chongzhen.

The sky was clear. Li Zhifen was again directing his several dozen male and female subordinates to carry urine and manure to irrigate his precious saltpeter-collecting site.

The day before, nearly a hundred jin of saltpeter earth had already been collected from this plot. It was said that after the Defense Lord made it into gunpowder, it was transported to the Koujiagou ironworks. To collect new saltpeter earth, this watering and urine-pouring could not slacken.

This plot was not far from the new fort's protective wall of Shunxiang Fort, situated at the base of a slope where the sun did not reach. Over there were also rows of abandoned house ruins, originally the ancient site of Hanpan County seat — most shaded and cool, perfect for collecting saltpeter.

With urine poured daily, this saltpeter-collecting site could be said to stink for miles around. Sometimes when a gust of wind blew, the stench would even drift far to the labor site where everyone was building the fort wall, drawing endless curses. Entering that area, many people could not bear it, yet Li Zhifen's expression remained unchanged, as if in this reeking place he could instead find boundless delight.

As Li Zhifen directed the men and women carrying urine past the construction site, many people called out to him from afar: "Great Saltpeter Collection Officer Li, off to see your precious site again?"

The crowd all burst into laughter, as if finding amusement in the dull, grueling labor.

During this time, Li Zhifen's reputation had become known far and wide within the fort. Many people, whenever they spoke of this Great Saltpeter Collection Officer Li, could not stop laughing. Many also rumored that in order to accumulate saltpeter, Li Zhifen always carried a broom and dustpan on his person, spending all day wandering around latrines and stables, and the moment he saw any white matter, he would instinctively start sweeping it up.

Behind his back, people had already given Li Zhifen a nickname: "Great Latrine Officer Li."

Hearing everyone's teasing, Li Zhifen did not get angry. He grinned and said: "Yes, yes."

As he spoke, he strode along with his short, stout steps, directing his subordinates to pass by.

The crowd laughed even harder.

Among the crowd, Xu Yue'e was also laughing. As she carried a load of earth on her shoulder pole, she drew many men opposite to secretly steal glances at her.

This Xu Yue'e was always cold as ice in front of others, and even more stern with men. No one expected she could laugh too, and her laugh was truly beautiful.

But no one dared to approach and strike up a conversation. Not to mention that this woman was fierce enough — a few days ago, several single military householders had gone up to joke with her, and she stabbed one in the pit of the stomach with her shoulder pole, leaving him in pain for days without recovery. After that, all the men kept a respectful distance from her.

Furthermore, Shunxiang Fort had a rule: male military householders were strictly forbidden from harassing female military householders. Normal conversation and chatting was allowed, but anyone who laid hands on them or used frivolous language would face the military rod without mercy.

By now, the nickname of the Disciplinary Officer Chi Dacheng — "Chi the Skinner" — had spread far and wide among the newly arrived military householders. Chi Dacheng was rigid by nature; whoever violated the rules and was caught by him would lose a layer of skin if not their life. Those several single military householders, not only were they beaten by Xu Yue'e, but afterward they were severely caned by Chi Dacheng. New injuries on top of old ones, they lay in bed for a full ten days.

The result of this was that even fewer men dared to approach Xu Yue'e. Moreover, her past matters had somehow been spread around, and the way people looked at her became even stranger.

Xu Yue'e carried the earth to the fort wall. Several children ran toward her, calling repeatedly: "Auntie, Auntie."

Xu Yue'e said gently: "Good children."

She took a steamed bun from her bosom, broke it into several pieces, handed them to the children, and even stroked one of them on the hair.

Those few children went bouncing and hopping away, and as they hopped they shouted: "Oh, oh, we've got food, we've got food."

These children were all child-rammer kids. In ancient times, when ramming city walls, to save manpower they often let children run about on top, which could also achieve the effect of wooden ramming. During child-ramming, these children got to eat two more steamed buns than on ordinary days.

Watching the backs of these children, Xu Yue'e's face showed a smile, graceful and serene.

For some reason, Xu Yue'e was very fond of children. Usually when she sat alone and watched those frolicking children, a smile would appear on her face. Only at such times did she shed her usual coldness, just like an ordinary young girl.

But as Xu Yue'e's past quietly spread through the fort, more and more military households forbade their children from associating with Xu Yue'e. Only the orphans in the women's camp were very fond of Xu Yue'e, because she would often save some food for them, and ordinarily these children would affectionately call her Auntie.

Xu Yue'e rested a while, and was just about to turn back to carry earth when she suddenly heard gongs sounding loudly. From far away someone said: "His Lordship has ordered, the whole fort is to assemble, the whole fort is to assemble..."

At once everyone stirred restlessly, one after another saying: "What's happened? His Lordship wants the whole fort to assemble..."