Chapter 181: Raw Materials

"Quartz sand, soda ash, limestone."

Wang Chong read the words on the paper, scratched his head, and felt completely bewildered.

Among the items listed, he only knew about limestone.

It was needed for iron smelting and calcining cement.

Zhao Xu naturally understood that it was impossible for Wang Chong to grasp this.

So he said, "This quartz sand is similar to the sand by the river, but this sand is white."

"White sand? Your Highness, this subordinate has seen this before. When I traveled with my father, we passed through Dai Commandery, and the lakeshores there were covered in this kind of sand. I even found it strange at the time!" Wang Chong thought carefully and suddenly remembered.

"Dai Commandery, indeed, that place is a major source of this kind of sand." Zhao Xu smiled and nodded.

The knowledge in the chip was authentic and reliable.

Moreover, having lived here for such a long time, he had basically grasped which modern-day locations corresponded to the administrative divisions of the Great Song.

This Dai Xian was equivalent to the vicinity of Lingshan Xian in modern-day Hebei.

And in the modern era, this place was a famous source of quartz sand.

Therefore, he was not at all surprised that Wang Chong had discovered this sand in Dai Xian.

"Hmm, in that case, obtaining the raw materials for glass will be simple." Zhao Xu said to Wang Chong.

Dai Commandery was also part of Yanzhou and was not very far from Yan Commandery.

If merchants knew that this useless sand could be sold for money, they would certainly scramble to transport the quartz sand to him from Dai Commandery.

"Your Highness, and what is this soda ash?" Wang Chong asked again.

Now that two of the three raw materials were resolved, as long as he understood soda ash, he could make glass.

"It is the white powder used for steaming mantou." Zhao Xu said.

Soda ash had a long history in ancient times; at first, people obtained it from seashells and wood ash, and after natural alkali mines were discovered, it became widely popularized.

In the North Territory, soda ash was commonly used in the preparation of various flour-based foods, so its application was even broader.

"So that's what it is." Wang Chong understood. He looked at the method for melting and firing these three raw materials on the paper and nodded slightly, feeling that he could give it a try.

"The quartz sand is in Dai Commandery, and the soda ash is in Yuzhou. Before you let the merchants go to these two places to procure the materials, you can build the regenerative furnace shown in the diagram." Zhao Xu added.

The Yuzhou of the Great Song was equivalent to modern-day Henan.

And in the place called Wucheng in Henan, there was one of the largest open-pit natural alkali mines in the country, with reserves of over one hundred million tons.

He had inquired with Yang He; the alkali merchants in Yanzhou all bought their alkali from this place.

In this way, Dai Commandery had quartz sand, and Yuzhou had the soda ash mine.

Thus, the raw materials for manufacturing glass would no longer be a problem.

"Your Highness is truly learned and knowledgeable; you know everything." Wang Chong's eyes were full of admiration.

Never mind the quartz sand, Yan Wang even knew where to buy alkali.

This truly saved him a great deal of time.

Zhao Xu chuckled twice without explaining; after all, even if he spoke of something like a chip, the ancients would not understand it.

After instructing Wang Chong to prepare for the glass manufacturing, Zhao Xu left the Armament Department and headed toward the North Camp.

Last time in Shanggu Commandery, his mention of establishing schools in the army was not just a casual remark, but something he intended to implement.

One of his goals in doing this was to improve the combat proficiency of the officers.

Another was to strengthen his prestige within the army.

With the appearance of artillery, the destructive power of the Prince's Personal Army was also rising.

He had to hold such an army firmly in his hands; he did not want his own army to turn their cannons on him one day.

Arriving at the main camp.

The soldiers were training under the command of officers at various levels.

Chang Wei was patrolling the camp on horseback.

Seeing Zhao Xu arrive, Chang Wei spurred his horse over.

"Your Highness." Dismounting, Chang Wei performed a salute.

"At ease." Zhao Xu nodded.

He looked at the soldiers in the field, sweating profusely from their training, and did not immediately bring up the matter of the schools, but instead asked: "Have you thought about how to use artillery on the battlefield?"

After the artillery was built, he had never told Chang Wei about the methods for using artillery on the battlefield,

but instead let him think about it himself.

After all, things one thinks of oneself are more profound.

However, if Chang Wei's ideas were unreasonable, he would have no choice but to demonstrate it to him.

When asked this question, Chang Wei felt uncharacteristically unconfident.

If it were about the battle formations used in daily training, he would not fear anyone chosen from the Great Song army.

But as for this thing called artillery, he was like a bride getting into a sedan chair for the first time—it was his first experience.

"This subordinate thinks it should be used similarly to firearms: place the artillery at the very front before the battle and fire a few shots at the enemy." Chang Wei said.

Hearing this, Zhao Xu frowned.

He felt he had slightly overestimated the ancient generals' understanding of firearms.

However, this could not be blamed on Chang Wei.

After all, during the Ming and Qing periods of his own time, artillery was played the same way; just like bows and arrows, they were fired three times before the battle.

"If used this way, wouldn't the advantages of artillery be wasted?" Zhao Xu asked, "Furthermore, if the enemy's cavalry charges over and uses nails to plug the touchholes, wouldn't you be left helpless?"

Chang Wei was stunned upon hearing this; if the touchholes at the back of the artillery were plugged, the artillery would be ruined.

At this moment, he looked at Zhao Xu.

The Artillery was created by Yan Wang, and he believed that Yan Wang must certainly know how to use it.

To him, face was not important; being able to learn things was what mattered.

So he asked with a cheeky grin, "Your Highness, I beg you to teach this humble general."

Zhao Xu nodded, then shifted the topic, "Now you should understand the importance of the Military Academy; generals cannot hoard their own experience like a precious broom, but must share it with other generals, for only then can the progress of the entire army be promoted."

As for him, he very much detested a certain trend currently prevalent in the Great Song.

From the powerful clans down to the common people, everyone liked to hide away whatever little knowledge they possessed.

Among them, the powerful clans, for the purpose of protecting their own interests, would never pass on books concerning military strategy, water conservancy, astronomy, or geography.

And the craftsmen among the common people did the same with their own skills.

They even had numerous standards when taking on apprentices.

If they could not find an apprentice, they would even prefer to let that skill die out.

This led to the loss of many skills.

Of course, dislike it as he might, this was simply a characteristic of the era, and he was powerless to change it.

However, in his fief, his army, and his officialdom, he would absolutely not allow such a situation to exist.

Excellent experience must be mutually referenced and passed on.

Upon hearing this, Chang Wei's brain almost failed to keep up.

But he was already accustomed to Yan Wang's unconventional way of speaking.

After all that, it turned out Yan Wang wanted to use the matter of the Artillery to talk about the Military Academy.

"I dare not neglect Your Highness's instructions, but Your Highness, there are truly very few generals in the army who are literate, and the generals are not very interested, so it is difficult for me," Chang Wei said with a bitter face.

He had spoken to the generals about this academy upon returning, but this bunch of rough men were not interested at all.

The implication of each and every one of them was that one gains experience by fighting more battles, and there was no need for any academy.

Zhao Xu frowned immediately upon hearing this.

The biggest difference between an ancient army and a modern army is actually not the Weapon, but more professional military literacy and discipline.

This requires generals to generally have received formal military education.

Especially Artilleryman generals.

The Artillery cannot just be fired in any direction; one needs to calculate the approximate landing point of the Cannonball based on the angle of the muzzle so that it can hit accurately.

And to calculate the landing point, one must master basic Mathematics.

Although he could calculate the specific angles for them to hit roughly which positions and make them into booklets,

they still had to master the methods of measuring angles.