Because he is a Taoist, he often makes an alchemist. In the process of alchemy, he invented gunpowder.
There are records of "sulfur water", "realgar water" and "orpiment water" in the Thirty-six Water Law. Nitrate is a mixture of sulfur, realgar and orpiment in a bamboo tube by water method. There are three other things refined into realgar: saltpeter, sausage and turpentine.
Taoist priests have the experience that when the amount of saltpeter is small, arsenic can be obtained by refining realgar with saltpeter, sausage and turpentine; When the amount of saltpeter is large, it can explode when heated with strong fire.
Because of the explosion, gunpowder was produced.
And to make real gunpowder, the most important thing is to reduce fire.
It is a method used to avoid explosion during construction, which is called fire reduction method.
Grind sulfur and saltpeter into powder, then mix them, put them in a sand jar, dig a pit, put the sand jar in the pit, the pit is as flat as the ground, but the surrounding area should be filled with soil, burn three Gleditsia sinensis seeds and put them in the sand jar.
When the flame of Gleditsia sinensis burns out, put a certain amount of raw and cooked charcoal on the mouth of the sand jar, set fire to the sulfur and saltpeter below, and take it away with fire when the charcoal burns to one third. When it is cold, gunpowder will catch fire.
There are many ways to make gunpowder, such as using sulfur, nitrate and aristolochia. After grinding these things, stir them evenly, dig a hole and put them in the jar, which is as flat as the ground.
Put a charcoal fire in it and the smoke will gradually rise. Then, cover four or five floors with wet paper, cover them with bricks, dig up the soil and bury them, and then take them out when they are cool. "
Although these methods of extinguishing fire with gunpowder are based on the principle of Taoist alchemy, the purpose is to modify sulfur to avoid explosion and achieve the purpose of alchemy, but at the same time, we realize that the above prescription contains saltpeter, sulfur and carbonized Gleditsia sinensis or Aristolochia powder, and the mixture of the three has the performance of explosion, which is gunpowder.
And these methods of making gunpowder were invented by Sun Simiao, which is unexpected, right?