For Zhu Yijun, the Daming Institute had two very important projects. Not only were they important, but they were also extremely confidential.
This was why Zhang Jing didn't say anything when Shen Shixing was there. It was because Shen Shixing couldn't know about it.
These two projects were carried out by the Daming Royal Academy of Sciences. The person in charge was Xu Guangqi. One of the projects was the Invincible Cannon project.
The so-called Invincible Cannon project was actually very simple. It was to create a revolutionary cannon.
This cannon had to be revolutionary from the beginning. This project started three years ago with Xu Guangqi in charge. For the past three years, Zhu Yijun had invested a lot of manpower and material resources. So far, there had been no results.
It was because of such a large amount of investment that Xu Guangqi devoted himself to this project.
In the past three years, Xu Guangqi had only been to the palace a limited number of times. Every time he came, it was for something big.
When he came to the front, Zhu Yijun saw Xu Guangqi at a glance. The young man that Zhu Yijun had trained in the past had quite a bearing now.
Especially his achievements in science, he had long surpassed Zhu Yijun, who was a dabbler.
Other than some knowledge from the future, Zhu Yijun was no match for Xu Guangqi.
As the president of the Daming Royal Academy of Sciences, Xu Guangqi was absolutely an amazing existence. No one dared to refute this.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Xu Guangqi quickly bowed when he saw Zhu Yijun walking over.
Nodding, Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "You can rise!" Then, Zhu Yijun directly asked, "Is there anything important for you to come to the palace today?"
"Your Majesty, the yellow flame has been successfully developed!" Xu Guangqi bowed.
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Yijun stood up from his throne in shock. Although he had been looking forward to this day for a long time, Zhu Yijun still couldn't believe that it was actually successful.
Of course, this yellow explosive was not nitroglycerin or TNT, but trinitrophenol, which was picric acid.
Because it was pure and crystallized at room temperature, it was called yellow gunpowder.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, picric acid was still the best gunpowder. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that it was replaced by TNT, the king of explosives.
Compared to black gunpowder, this thing was much better. How could Zhu Yijun not be happy?
Zhu Yijun did not know much about picric acid. He only remembered that it was used as a yellow dye when it was first created. Zhu Yijun only mentioned it once when he was developing the Invincible Cannon project.
Zhu Yijun did not expect that Xu Guangqi would really give him a surprise. He actually managed to get this thing out.
"Tell me, how did you guys do it?" Zhu Yijun looked at Xu Guangqi and asked excitedly.
This was something that Zhu Yijun could not help but be excited about. Once picric acid was used, then the Daming Cannon would definitely be improved.
"Your Majesty, the Invincible Cannon project has many problems to solve. Among them, gunpowder is the most important one.
The black gunpowder that is currently in use cannot meet the requirements of the Invincible Cannon. When Your Majesty mentioned the yellow gunpowder, I took it to heart.
I ordered people to collect all the yellow dyes and conduct continuous experiments. "
"A few days ago, the experiment was finally successful. We successfully produced yellow gunpowder."
"In addition, we have also achieved some results in the production of mercury fulminate. I believe that after a period of time, we will also have a breakthrough."
Zhu Yijun nodded his head in satisfaction. The so-called Invincible Cannon project was actually to create a reliable rear-loading cannon.
The most typical example would be the cannon known as the Italian cannon in later generations. In fact, this cannon was the French Type-1897 75mm Field Cannon.
When Zhu Yijun first proposed this project, it was basically a lifetime project.
Although he did not know if it could be produced, he had to try. Perhaps in the process, many new things would be produced, and these things would all be epochal.
"You tell me about the overall progress!" Zhu Yijun looked at Xu Guangqi and asked.
"Yes!"
Xu Guangqi agreed and began to introduce the progress of the entire project to Zhu Yijun. "I have divided the entire project into several groups to be carried out at the same time. One of the groups is the research and development of artillery shells. It consists of several groups, such as new gunpowder and percussion powder, as well as the design and production of artillery shells."
"For the gunpowder and percussion powder, the yellow gunpowder has been completed, and the mercury fulminate is also in progress."
"As for the cannon, the hydraulic press can only forge copper cannon. I have been continuously improving this aspect. Although I have solved a part of the problem, the effect is not very good.
Before we obtain a new power source, we can only barely use it. As for the power source, we need to make progress with the steam project. "
Zhu Yijun nodded. The second of his two lifetime projects was the steam project, which was the development of the steam engine.
The progress of that project was much slower than the Invincible Cannon project. Until now, there was no substantial progress. Although he was a little disappointed, Zhu Yijun also knew that this thing was not that easy. He could only take it slow.
After all, he was not an engineering student. If he was an engineering student, Zhu Yijun would have carried a sledgehammer himself.
"Other than the cannon shell, there is the cannon itself. I have carefully studied the alphabet cannon and tried to forge a new cannon barrel. The overall progress is not slow."
Zhu Yijun looked at Xu Guangqi with a gratified expression. If they could really make a reliable rear-loading cannon, it would really be an epoch-making product.
Once the Invincible Cannon project was realized, it would promote the development of the entire military industry in Daming, and at the same time, the entire industry in Daming would be affected.
The realization of the metal cannon shell and the rear-loading cannon was enough for Daming to create a metal rear-loading gun, which was the famous M1841.
Once the production was successful, the rear-loading gun and the Italian cannon would come out from Daming. It was very meaningful.
"Continue to work hard. If I want people, I want money, I want money!"
Zhu Yijun looked at Xu Guangqi and said with a smile, "We also need to hurry up with the steam project. It doesn't matter if it is a little crude. We can improve it bit by bit. It doesn't have to be perfect."
Although he was a liberal arts student, Zhu Yijun also knew that the technology of the steam engine was not developed in one step.
The earliest steam engines were very crude and had many problems. For example, they couldn't be used to build ships, and they couldn't be used on trains. However, they provided a stable and continuous source of power that could advance the industrial level of the Great Ming Dynasty, be it mining, iron smelting, or military technology.
This was very important to Daming. Many things could not be manufactured because of the lack of power source.
A simple steam engine could solve problems that could not be solved by a hydraulic ram.