Chapter 212: Fire Tinder

Of course, the "little sweetness" Baifeng spoke of was not just giving him a chance at medical treatment; Baifeng intended for him to be the only one to light the fuses for future Gunpowder tests. With this experience, he would surely be more careful when lighting them in the future.

At the same time, after he works for a while longer, he will also be granted the status of a Free Person; if he does well, it is not impossible to make him a tribesman.

Regarding the granulation of Gunpowder, Baifeng planned to try using water first. It seemed the earliest granulation of Gunpowder occurred when it got damp, caked together, and was then crushed again. Unexpectedly, the power of the Gunpowder was surprisingly strong, and only then did people start specifically working on Gunpowder granulation; it does not necessarily mean one must use egg whites to form granules.

After sending away the people who came to watch, Baifeng returned to the room where he made Gunpowder. Now he felt that this workshop might still be a bit small and not perfect enough. For example, so much Sulfur should not all be stored in one room; if a fire broke out or something else happened, it would all explode at once, which, besides being dangerous, would also waste materials. It should be stored separately; that way, the ability to resist risks would be stronger—one should not put all their eggs in one basket.

Then there was the matter that after the Gunpowder was blended, from the granulation of the Gunpowder to the production and filling of the Bomb, specific people should be selected to do it. After all, if one makes the Bomb oneself and happens to slip up, then it is game over.

Furthermore, just letting them do the processes like filling the Gunpowder would not allow them to know the formula for the Gunpowder. Even if they became skilled workers at making Bombs, it would be useless if they did not know how to blend the Gunpowder.

After planning these things, Baifeng sat in front of his table and began to work on making the Fire Tinder. He had not done it before because everyone felt that having a flint was convenient enough; after all, dry wood could be found everywhere, and a simple strike could ignite a fire, and if Sulfur was lacking, the effect would also be very poor.

The raw materials for making the Fire Tinder were basically all available here. For example, the outer shell could just be made of Bamboo, and one only needed to make a lid for the top and bottom, which was very simple for them now.

A small hole was made in the Bamboo Tube and the Bamboo lid to allow oxygen to penetrate; it could not be completely sealed.

As for the tinder inside, he chose Reed, hemp bark, and various things that looked soft and cottony like plant fibers, then mixed in Saltpeter powder, Charcoal Powder, and Sulfur, and then added pine oil refined from pine branches that had basically become transparent.

After hammering it until firm and stuffing it tightly into that Bamboo Tube, a Fire Tinder was finished. Light it, then blow on it, and the flame would quickly ignite on the Fire Tinder. The flame was relatively stable and it was convenient to carry. Once the lid was put on, the open flame would be extinguished, but it would still be smoldering inside.

It was just that collecting the materials was quite troublesome; after all, so many Reed flowers could not actually make much tinder, and this tinder had to be refilled often. Only in this way could one ensure that when one blew on it, there was something to catch fire; otherwise, no matter how much one blew, one could not blow fire out of an empty tube. After being busy for an afternoon, Baifeng had only made two. Baifeng also thought of a great use for this skill.

Now they had no war to fight, but the Gunpowder could not just sit there. Previously, the tribesmen had said that whether it was mining Lime or getting Iron Ore, it was a bit strenuous. Lime was fine; one could get a lot down with an Iron pickaxe.

But for Iron Ore, one could basically only pick up the more fragmented pieces. Larger Iron Ore required many people to work together to pull it onto a cart to transport it to the tribe. If it did not fall to the ground, they could only helplessly watch it. Now that they had Gunpowder, Baifeng felt they could try using it to blast rocks to extract ore.

However, this mountain-opening mining was indeed a technical job. Baifeng did not dare to let them start directly for the time being, so he planned to go to the mine himself and personally install the Explosive to blast some rubble; by then, those Iron Ore should be enough for them to use for a long time.

Subsequently, Baifeng began to blend Gunpowder again. This time he blended quite a lot, and several Pottery Jars were filled. Then he poured water onto the Gunpowder in one of the Pottery Jars, mixed it into a mud-like consistency, and placed it under the sun to dry naturally.

However, the location for this drying was also chosen in an open, uninhabited area. Who knew if an accident or explosion would occur? Such a large jar, and the exterior was still pottery; if this really exploded, it was estimated that the people nearby would not survive.

Having been busy for a day, Baifeng was too lazy to finish all of this today, so he packed up his things, closed the door tightly, and went back to his room to rest.

With Baifeng's instructions, Sui also restrained herself much more than usual. Although she still went to play with Xiaoniu every day, she no longer thought about riding on Xiaoniu's back.

Now Chinv and Baifeng could be considered completely familiar; there was no longer that sense of shyness. Chinv also urgently hoped that she could conceive Baifeng's child; in that case, her status would be even more secure, and her own future would also have more hope.

Although Baifeng was no longer keeping an eye on the papermaking, those few tribesmen he had previously called to make paper had already begun to explore how to make paper themselves, and they also knew how to change materials on their own.

Now they had made a kind of paper, which was made from a type of tree bark. The paper was relatively white, no longer a yellow color, and its toughness was also very good. The area could be made quite large, and it would not fall apart even if it absorbed water.

Because it was made of tree bark, the output was relatively small. Baifeng cherished this kind of paper and was even more reluctant to use it to wipe his butt, so he hid it in his room, waiting for the brush to be made later so he could use it for writing. At the same time, he told those tribesmen to keep increasing or decreasing the proportions based on the raw materials they used to make this paper, in order to make paper that was whiter and tougher. If they made it, he would reward them greatly.

Plus, Yu's progress in literacy was already very fast. Baifeng felt that teaching Yu alone was too inefficient and a waste of time, but not teaching was not an option. So he called together some of the children in the tribe whom he had not taught before and did not want to learn. This time he was going to use force to compel them to study hard. No matter what, they had to recognize a few hundred characters; that way, they would be of some use in the future.

They had previously used Charcoal and wooden boards to write, but now that they had paper, the production process for brushes and ink had to be scheduled. However, Baifeng was going to be busy for a while, so this plan could only be pushed back a bit. He really did not know why he, a Tribal Chief, had to do so many troublesome things.

Why weren't there more people who transmigrated together at that time?