Chapter 095: Preparations Before the Blast

With wooden barrels now completed, the next task was building the large transport carts. The most crucial component of a cart was its wheels, but their construction was highly intricate. Given the substantial load these carts would carry, using arrow shafts as axles was no longer feasible. To solve this, Luo Chong provided Wood Boar with two sets of measurements for the wheels.

"Make four wheels based on these dimensions—two large, two small. Use sturdy wood, free of knots and holes, or they'll break easily," Luo Chong instructed, handing a wooden plank inscribed with precise measurements to Wood Boar.

"Understood. We'll be careful," Wood Boar nodded after comparing the numbers against a bronze ruler, ensuring he fully grasped the specifications.

Crafting the wheels would take time, but Luo Chong couldn't afford to wait idly. Instead, he turned his attention to another pressing task.

The clay shell encasing the pyrite had been burning for eleven days now. By his calculations, it was nearly ready, so he began preparing other necessary materials.

To produce nitroglycerin, apart from nitric acid, the key ingredient was glycerin. The process of extracting glycerin required a reaction between soda ash and animal fats, leading to saponification—separating the mixture into stearic acid (soap) and glycerin.

Soda ash was essentially refined sodium carbonate. However, Luo Chong only had a small amount of natural soda in crushed form, which required purification before use.

There were two methods to refine natural soda: one involved calcination followed by dissolution, filtration, and crystallization; the other reversed the steps—dissolving first, crystallizing, and then calcining. However, without high-precision equipment, the second method was impractical, as heating during the final step would release excessive carbon dioxide, ruining the soda ash. Luo Chong opted for the first method.

He placed the natural soda fragments into a crucible and subjected them to intense heat. Once thoroughly calcined, he crushed the residue and dissolved it in water, filtering out impurities. The resulting solution was boiled down until the liquid fully evaporated, leaving behind crystallized soda ash.

Meanwhile, he had two vats of pig fat carried out and set over a fire to melt. Animal fat had the drawback of solidifying when cooled, unlike vegetable oils, which remained liquid except in extreme cold.

Once the fat was fully liquefied and slightly cooled, Luo Chong added the purified soda ash and stirred vigorously with a wooden rod. The mixture quickly thickened into a sticky paste, at which point he poured it into rectangular ceramic molds.

As the mixture settled, it naturally separated into two layers: a solidified base of stearic acid—essentially large blocks of soap—and a thin, pale yellow layer of glycerin floating on top. This glycerin was what Luo Chong needed.

However, the saponification process only yielded about 5% glycerin—the remaining 95% was soap. After exhausting two whole vats of pig fat, Luo Chong managed to collect only enough glycerin to fill a jar the size of a human head. Even so, the crude glycerin was still impure and required further refinement through distillation.

He set up a distillation apparatus, poured the glycerin into the boiling flask, and sealed the system with clay. The condensing tubes led to a receiving jar, ensuring that any vaporized glycerin would be collected as purified liquid. Once the process was complete, he had reduced the original volume by a third, yielding a jar of concentrated glycerin.

The tribe members were baffled. Lately, they had seen their chief burning all sorts of materials—not for smelting copper, firing pottery, or refining salt, but for some mysterious purpose. He had spent weeks on these projects, producing substances they didn't understand and forbidding anyone from touching them, claiming they were toxic. Was their chief turning into some kind of mad alchemist?

Mouse Shaman was utterly perplexed. The elder, however, had some insight—whenever Luo Chong burned things, it led to new inventions. This time, he had been at it for half a month. Whatever he was making must be extraordinary. After all, this was meant to split open mountains—it had to be a divine artifact.

In a sense, his assumption wasn't far from the truth. What Luo Chong was creating was, indeed, an earth-shatteringinvention.

By the thirteenth day of burning the pyrite, the reaction was finally complete. Luo Chong personally broke open the hardened clay shell. Inside, the iron sulfide had transformed into crystalline ferrous sulfate. The alumina had turned into silica and aluminum sulfate, while the straw and wood had burned down to carbon residue and ash.

The next step was to separate these materials. Luo Chong instructed his men to wash the contents in wooden barrels, removing ash and carbon residue before sorting out the black crystalline ferrous sulfate. The silica and aluminum sulfate were stored separately for later use.

The purified ferrous sulfate was loaded into the pre-prepared distillation boiler. Once the tubes and cooling system were secured, Luo Chong began heating it once again.

A group of curious onlookers gathered, eager to see what would emerge after so many days of burning.

As the distillation progressed, the boiler emitted strange noises. Steam billowed from the pipes, and the cooling water quickly heated up, forcing Luo Chong to replace it continuously. Finally, at the output end, a clear, colorless liquid began dripping into the receiving jar, drawing astonished murmurs from the crowd.

"Is that just water leaking from the top pipe?" someone whispered.

Mouse Shaman, unable to contain his curiosity, reached out a finger toward the dripping liquid, eager to examine it. Luo Chong's heart nearly stopped.

"Don't touch it!" he shouted, grabbing Mouse Shaman's wrist and pulling him back forcefully. The sudden motion sent the old shaman stumbling backward onto the ground.

Mouse Shaman looked bewildered and slightly offended. It seemed to him that Luo Chong still didn't trust him, refusing to share these sacred techniques.

"Are you hurt?" Luo Chong quickly reassured him. "This stuff is extremely dangerous. If you touch it, it will burn right through your skin."

"A single drop of water can burn through skin?" Mouse Shaman scoffed in disbelief.

"It's not water. Here, I'll show you."

Luo Chong dipped a ceramic spoon into the liquid and let a single drop fall onto a wooden stick.

Sizzle—!

A wisp of smoke curled upward as the droplet instantly burned a hole through the wood. The spectators—Mouse Shaman, the elder, and Limp—stood frozen in shock.

"What… what did I just witness?" Mouse Shaman stammered.

"See? If you had touched it, your hand would have ended up like that stick. I wasn't trying to keep secrets—I was trying to keep you alive," Luo Chong said firmly.

Mouse Shaman swallowed hard, visibly shaken. If not for Luo Chong's quick reflexes, his hand would have been reduced to charred remains.

"Chief, this… water is terrifying. Are you planning to use it to melt the mountain rock?" the elder asked hesitantly.

"This isn't water. It's called sulfuric acid, extracted from the minerals. But this is only one component. What I'm making isn't finished yet," Luo Chong explained.

"It's not done yet? Then the final product must be even more terrifying than this acid," Limp muttered, both shocked and intrigued.

Luo Chong chuckled. "You'll see tomorrow."

The distillation of ferrous sulfate was repeated multiple times. There had been an ample supply of pyrite, resulting in a significant yield of ferrous sulfate.

After completion, the process yielded sulfuric acid and a red-brown powder—iron oxide. Luo Chong collected and stored them separately. The sulfuric acid filled two large jars, while the iron oxide amounted to over a hundred pounds—pure iron powder, ready for forging tools.

With sulfuric acid in hand, making nitric acid was straightforward. Using a fresh set of distillation equipment, he combined refined saltpeter with sulfuric acid, distilling the mixture to produce highly concentrated nitric acid.

Now, with nitric acid and glycerin both prepared, everything was in place. The only remaining step was to mix them.

But not yet.

Mixing nitroglycerin prematurely could send the entire Han tribe on an unplanned flight to the heavens.

Nitroglycerin was an extremely sensitive, high-explosive liquid. It was impossible to store safely—it had to be made fresh before use.

How sensitive was it?

A single jolt could set it off.

Heat, impact, friction—any of these could trigger a catastrophic explosion. Until the right moment, Luo Chong decided to keep the components separate.

For now.