Chapter 498: Unexpected Substance

"Huh, this doesn't seem to be the direction of the Technology Academy." The officials looked toward the direction of the explosion, wearing puzzled expressions.

Liu Fu could not help but voice his confusion.

Zhao Xu, however, was in no mood to continue the meeting; Wang Chong's steam engine had exploded last time.

But he had learned his lesson; this time, it shouldn't be the commotion caused by Wang Chong.

If it wasn't Wang Chong's, then only one possibility remained.

Something had happened at Qu Sheng's Chemical Workshop.

After he had handed the preparation of the Three Acids and Two Alkalis over to Qu Sheng.

Qu Sheng had not been idle, leading the students of the Technology Academy who were proficient in Chemistry to work on this matter constantly.

He would occasionally ask about the progress, and Qu Sheng had reported back to him that it would be no later than when Wang Chong could manufacture steam engines on a large scale.

Thinking of this, he let Liu Fu and the officials continue.

He, under the protection of Xu Lie, went to the Workshop District; the sound of the explosion had originated from there.

Sure enough, as soon as he arrived at the Workshop District, he saw white smoke rising near the Chemical Workshop.

The entire Chemical Workshop was in a state of chaos, with workshop craftsmen constantly carrying buckets of water to put out the fire.

However, as Zhao Xu walked closer, he discovered that the thick smoke was not coming from the production workshop, but from the Laboratory in the adjacent workshop area.

Besides having a laboratory at the Technology Academy, Qu Sheng and the others had also established a laboratory at the Chemical Workshop to conduct experiments nearby.

Now, six students were lying in front of the laboratory, all covered in bloodstains and groaning in pain.

And Qu Sheng was checking the injuries of the six people.

"What happened?" Zhao Xu walked over and asked directly.

Seeing Zhao Xu, Qu Sheng even forgot to salute, his face full of guilt: "Reporting to Your Highness, it is all this subordinate's dereliction of duty; please punish me, Your Highness."

"What punishment or no punishment, tell me what happened first!" Zhao Xu said sternly.

Qu Sheng said urgently, "A student said he accidentally mixed glycerin into the mixture of nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid. He didn't react at the time and left. Other students came in and accidentally knocked the glass bottle containing the mixture onto the ground, and then it exploded inexplicably."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu frowned.

Because the saponification reaction was an experiment that students had to master, and he had requested that glycerin be kept.

Therefore, there was glycerin in the experiment.

Manufacturing mixed acid with concentrated sulfuric acid and nitric acid was also one of the experimental contents he had requested.

But it was such a coincidence that Qu Sheng and the others had inadvertently created nitroglycerin this time.

This thing was extremely unstable and would explode upon impact.

When lecturing, he had deliberately not told Qu Sheng and the others about this, just to prevent these hot-headed youths from messing around and blowing themselves up.

Unexpectedly, they still hadn't avoided this accident.

"I understand. How are the students' injuries?" Zhao Xu asked.

"The student closest to it was more seriously injured; the flesh on his leg was blown open. The others are basically minor injuries." Qu Sheng felt even more guilty.

While speaking, Zhao Xu was already checking the students' injuries.

It was about the same as what Qu Sheng had said.

The most seriously injured student had already fainted, his leg a bloody mess.

The Medical Officer stationed at the workshop was applying herbal medicine to stop the bleeding for the unconscious student while bandaging him.

"Give him the best medicine," Zhao Xu ordered.

These students were his treasures; their value could not be reflected for the time being.

But when he drove out the Northern Di, stabilized the Great Song, and fought against the Western powers of this world, they would become the force driving the overall technological advancement of the entire Great Song.

"Your Highness, do not worry. His bones are fine; he just needs to rest for a while." The Medical Officer was not very nervous.

"That is good." Zhao Xu nodded.

Before long, the Medical Officer had people carry away all the injured students.

Other students began to enter the laboratory to clean up the mess.

Qu Sheng then asked: "Your Highness, what exactly is going on? Why would it explode when glycerin is dripped into mixed acid?"

"I wanted to wait until the Mineral Prospecting Department found a special type of soil before telling you, but since you have inadvertently created it now, I will tell you. This student inadvertently created nitroglycerin." Zhao Xu shook his head.

For him, an unstable substance like nitroglycerin could not be utilized at the moment; because it was a liquid, it could not be converted into propellant for guns and cannons.

Unless the Mineral Prospecting Department found a deposit of diatomaceous earth to mix with it to create stable diatomaceous earth explosive.

This type of explosive was a yellow gunpowder that was a grade higher than black gunpowder.

"Nitroglycerin?" Qu Sheng recited the name.

Zhao Xu then explained this piece of knowledge to Qu Sheng again, explaining the function of nitroglycerin and how to use diatomaceous earth and nitroglycerin to manufacture yellow gunpowder.

"I didn't expect that an accident would create this dangerous thing." Qu Sheng sighed.

"In fact, many things are discovered inadvertently during experiments." Zhao Xu smiled.

Gunpowder itself was also discovered inadvertently by Taoists during alchemy in contemporary history.

"In that case, we just need to wait for news from the Mineral Prospecting Department to turn the nitroglycerin into stable gunpowder." Qu Sheng's eyes were full of anticipation; he wished he could take a whip and urge the people of the Mineral Prospecting Department to find the diatomaceous earth quickly.

Then he suddenly realized he still didn't know what diatomaceous earth was, so he asked Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu then explained it again: this diatomaceous earth was a type of siliceous rock, mainly composed of the remains of ancient diatoms, which was the same principle as plants sedimenting into petroleum.

In the contemporary era, this resource was mainly distributed in countries like China, the United States, and Japan.

This was a parallel world; history had changed, but the locations of resources would not change.

In China, diatomaceous earth was mainly distributed in Jilin, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Southwest Hebei.

Corresponding to the Great Song, these were the northern part of Ningjin Dusi, Qizhou, Zhezhou, and the location of Dai Commandery in Yanzhou.

Although the quality of diatomaceous earth in Dai Commandery was not as good as in places like Qizhou, it was still rich in resources and enough for him to use.

At the time, when he forced Zhao Heng to demand the Southern Three Commanderies, he had this consideration as well.

After all, the larger the territory, the more resources there are on that territory.

One will not have their throat choked by mineral resources.

"So that's how it is." Qu Sheng basically understood, "Wang Chong has produced Granular Gunpowder; Your Highness, leave this Yellow Gunpowder to this subordinate."

Zhao Xu nodded; Wang Chong had shifted his focus entirely to Physics.

This matter was naturally suitable to be handed over to Qu Sheng.

"Then you will have to wait for news from the Mineral Prospecting Department," Zhao Xu said.

This world has no satellite positioning, so the Mineral Prospecting Department can only rely on his environmental descriptions to search.

Moreover, minerals are all underground; sometimes they even have to dig deeper to search, so there is still a certain level of difficulty.

Therefore, the Mineral Prospecting Department can only be made to list Diatomaceous Earth as one of the key minerals to search for at present.

As for when it can be found, one can only hope for luck.

Having spoken of this matter, Zhao Xu turned toward the workshop where craftsmen were coming and going, "The Nitric Acid and Concentrated Sulfuric Acid in the Laboratory are so abundant; it seems you have produced quite a lot during this time."

A smile finally appeared on Qu Sheng's face, "Living up to Your Highness's commission, the Three Acids and Two Alkalis Your Highness requires can all be manufactured in large quantities here."

Extending his hand in a gesture of invitation, Qu Sheng walked in front, leading Zhao Xu into the workshop.