American: Native Empire

Chapter 156: Smokeless Gunpowder

I’m a licensed teacher now.😊 Thanks to galaxytl, translator community and readers for your support.🙏 You helped me pass my exam with confidence. As a token of gratitude, I’ll give 5 chapters each for my novels today. Enjoy😍!

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As chemistry advanced, there were many attempts to improve the existing gunpowder since the early days.

“The current gunpowder has too many problems.”

This was the common thought of the chemists at that time.

In fact, nitrocellulose, commonly known as cotton gunpowder, appeared a long time ago.

Sulfuric acid and nitric acid were widely used at that time, and cellulose from cotton was very common in the empire.

The method of making it was also relatively simple. 

First, cellulose was soaked in a mixed acid of equal proportions of the two acids to be nitrated.

Then, after washing away all the acidity with cold water, basic cotton gunpowder could be made by drying it slowly at a low temperature.

Unfortunately,

Boom!

The first cotton gunpowder that was made exploded with a huge bang, causing the death of two people who were nearby. 

Because of this incident, the research on cotton gunpowder was suspended for a while.

But as time passed, and firearms developed, the need for new gunpowder emerged.

As a result, cotton gunpowder gradually received attention from chemists again.

They were interested in the powerful explosive power of cotton gunpowder, and its property of producing very little smoke and soot.

“If we can only stabilize this thing, it might be able to replace the current gunpowder…”

With this possibility alone, the chemists started a dangerous experiment. 

And as expected, numerous accidents occurred during the experiment with cotton gunpowder.

“It exploded again?”

“Yes.”

“Any injuries?”

“Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt because they were far away.”

Accidents happened so frequently that it was considered a lucky coincidence if there were no injured chemists when cotton gunpowder exploded.

“Tsk. This is not right. No matter how promising it looks, we have to stop this damn explosive experiment.”

Thanks to this, several universities and research institutes that had started research after seeing the potential gave up on the experiment with cotton gunpowder. 

But some research institutes still continued the experiment.

‘This is bad. If we leave it like this, many chemists will get hurt.’

Kim Ki-woo had been keeping an eye on the development of smokeless gunpowder, so he knew this situation relatively well.

And Kim Ki-woo had brought a paper from the modern era that contained the method of developing smokeless gunpowder. That’s how important smokeless gunpowder was.

Therefore, Kim Ki-woo tried to make smokeless gunpowder himself at the Huanggung Research Complex. 

But he faced strong opposition.

“Your Majesty! How can you try to research such a dangerous explosive material? Please reconsider your decision!”

“Please reconsider, Your Majesty!”

The fact that Kim Ki-woo was trying to experiment with cotton gunpowder was leaked by a researcher.

“How dare you! Didn’t I order you to keep the experiments in the research complex confidential?”

“Please kill me, Your Majesty.”

The researcher who leaked the smokeless gunpowder development plan was arrested and brought in. 

But he calmly admitted his guilt without showing any change in his expression.

Kim Ki-woo tapped his forehead as he looked at him. 

He knew very well what he was thinking when he divulged the secret to an outsider. 

But he wanted to hear it directly from his mouth.

“Why did you leak it? Say something to defend yourself.”

And the answer that followed was, as expected, exactly what he had anticipated.

“Smokeless gunpowder is a dangerous substance that has already killed many chemists. What if something happens to Your Majesty’s safety while experimenting at Huanggung? I could not stand by and watch this happen.”

“Is this your own opinion?”

“Yes, it is.”

It was a lie. 

Surely several researchers had agreed with him.

But he wanted to take all the blame himself. 

He was a very noble-minded man.

“Didn’t I tell you that I have a way to minimize the explosion of smokeless gunpowder?”

“You did say that. But this is only minimizing the explosion, not ensuring complete safety. If it were, you would have said that it would not explode at all.”

“…”

Kim Ki-woo closed his mouth for a moment. 

His words were right on point.

‘I haven’t made smokeless gunpowder myself, and I only have knowledge. I can’t be sure that it won’t explode.’

Of course, he knew very well how important his safety was to the empire, so he had no intention of approaching it himself. 

But he couldn’t know what would happen in case of an explosion.

It was a very slim chance that Kim Ki-woo could get hurt by it.

“Tsk. Even so, leaking secrets is something I can never forgive.”

“I am prepared for that.”

No matter how righteous his act was, he could not leave a precedent for forgiving such a way of leaking secrets.

He had to think not only about the research field, but also about the possibility of leaking the top secrets of the empire to outsiders.

“You will be tried for leaking a serious secret of Huanggung. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will accept my punishment.”

“Take him away.”

At Kim Ki-woo’s order, he was dragged away by the guards.

He probably wouldn’t be executed for this.

His crime was very heavy, but it was something he did out of loyalty to Kim Ki-woo.

After he left, Kim Ki-woo tapped his forehead.

‘He must have known that the ministers would react this way.’

Kim Ki-woo was the being who was called everything of the Wakan Tanka Empire. 

It was only natural that the ministers would oppose him when he said he was going to do a dangerous experiment.

Thanks to that, Kim Ki-woo had to bend his will for the first time in a long time.

“I understand your concerns well. I had a safe way to experiment with the new explosive material, cotton powder. However, I will accept your worries and I will not personally experiment with cotton powder.”

“Your Majesty, we are deeply grateful!”

***

This incident was paradoxically a turning point for cotton powder research.

“Cotton powder? Did His Majesty try to research it himself?”

“That’s right. I heard it’s a very dangerous substance.”

“His Majesty tried to research this explosive material for us? He didn’t have to do that…”

“He must have judged that cotton powder is very important.”

The process from the leak of cotton powder research to Kim Ki-woo giving up his intention was quite noisy. 

As a result, this incident made the headlines of all newspapers.

It was the first time that the research contents of the imperial palace research complex were leaked early, and the results that came out of it always changed the world.

Thanks to that, the imperial citizens became interested in cotton powder, a strange explosive material, and this was no different for chemists.

“Cotton powder… The imperial palace didn’t try to research explosives until now, right?”

“That’s why cotton powder is more amazing. How important is cotton powder if it broke the existing tacit rules?”

“Now that I hear it, you’re right.”

As a result, many universities and research institutes began to weigh whether to research cotton powder. 

And thanks to the above incident, cotton powder research was quickly activated.

“Tsk!”

Kim Ki-woo, who was watching the situation, clicked his tongue.

‘As expected, this is what happens.’

An explosive material that he tried to research in the imperial palace. 

How stimulating and challenging a sentence that was.

There were many cases where they jumped into research as soon as it became an issue. 

But this time the situation was different.

‘If I leave it like this, a lot of people will die.’

No matter how much knowledge and wisdom he had accumulated thanks to his efforts so far, he couldn’t just watch chemists who were very important for the development of the empire die.

So Kim Ki-woo wrote down in detail how to stabilize smokeless powder according to the current situation.

And he sent it to all places where smokeless powder was researched. 

This way, he hoped to reduce the accidents that would occur during the development of smokeless powder.

“…His Majesty is really amazing. How did he figure out this method without even researching it himself?”

“Haha. How can we mortals understand the knowledge and wisdom of the great spirit? Thanks to him, we can experiment with this explosive material safely. So stop thinking nonsense and let’s do some research.”

The effect of the official document was great. 

Of course, even with this, there were many accidents during the first time dealing with cotton powder, but the frequency was within an acceptable range.

Only then could Kim Ki-woo relax a little.

***

As Kim Ki-woo’s advice and intensive research by many chemists continued, cotton powder developed rapidly in no time.

Thanks to that, problems such as cotton powder’s instability and too fast combustion, which had been pointed out as problems since the beginning, were solved.

If Kim Ki-woo hadn’t advised them on cotton powder knowledge, it would have taken a long time, but before they knew it, commercialization began.

“Wow.”

And the result was in front of Kim Ki-woo’s eyes.

‘It’s exactly like B gunpowder in original history.’

Gunpowder developed by Paul Vieille in 1884.

It was also the first gunpowder to apply gelatinizing cotton powder with a solvent and molding it.

The gunpowder that Kim Ki-woo was fiddling with was almost identical to B gunpowder in terms of how it was made.

From gelatinizing cotton powder with ether and alcohol mixture to rolling it thin and cutting it into pieces.

Kim Ki-woo put down the gunpowder and picked up a bullet.

“Is this it?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We put cotton powder inside the cartridge case.”

Kim Ki-woo nodded his head. It still looked lacking compared to modern bullets, but it looked decent enough.

“Good.”

“Then may we proceed with the demonstration?”

“Do so.”

As Kim Ki-woo gave his permission, the surroundings became busy. 

And soon after, a shooting demonstration using cotton powder followed.

“Fire!”

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

“Wow!”

“As expected, there is much less smoke than conventional gunpowder. Isn’t this almost no smoke at all?”

“Its power and stability are not bad. It can be used in real combat.”

Among them, the Minister of Defense, Blue Earth, was especially impressed by the invention.

He was in charge of the empire’s military, so he knew very well the problems and limitations of black powder.

“This is a great invention that will bring a revolution to firearms.”josei

“Is it that good?”

“Yes, it is.”

“It seems more amazing than it looks.”

The atmosphere became more cheerful with Blue Earth’s praise.

Kim Kiwoo nodded his head as he looked at the reactions around him. He was satisfied with the performance of cotton powder himself.

“However, there are still many mountains to cross. The power and performance are good, but it is very hard to increase the production amount.”

“Well, that will improve over time, won’t it?”

Kim Kiwoo was not too worried either, like the Minister of Industry said. 

Once he found a way to stabilize cotton powder, mass production was a matter of time.

“This cotton powder produces much less smoke and residue than the existing gunpowder. I will name the existing gunpowder black powder, and these kinds of gunpowders smokeless powder.”

“Smokeless powder…”

The ministers and chemists repeated the name and nodded their heads.

Kim Kiwoo continued his speech.

“The firearms that used black powder had many restrictions. But now they are free from those restrictions. So I want you to distribute smokeless powder to the gunsmiths first. Let them make guns for smokeless powder.”

“I will follow your order, Your Majesty.”

After finishing the demonstration and giving instructions for the future, Kim Kiwoo returned to his office.

‘Finally, modern firearms will be made.’

Kim Kiwoo knew. 

He knew that many excellent guns had already been made.

It was just that they could not be applied because of the limitations of black powder.

Now that smokeless powder was developed, it did not seem far away to deploy much better firearms on the battlefield.