A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 164 Reasonable Persuasion
Aluminum is indeed a very good material, and the price was almost equal to gold in the early years.The tableware used by Napoleon is said to be made of aluminum, while the silver tableware used by everyone else.Even the trophy presented to Mendeleev by the Russian Tsar in 1889 was made of aluminum.

It was not until almost the end of the nineteenth century that the cost of producing aluminum began to decline significantly.

But generally speaking, the real large-scale application of aluminum will not come into play until decades later.But this thing is indeed praised to the sky, after all, it is still rare.

At present, if it really needs to be applied, it is nothing more than in the automobile industry. It should have been used in aircraft, but until World War I, aircraft were mainly made of wood, because people did not think that aircraft could be used in the military in the early days.It was almost during World War II that aluminum alloys began to be used in aircraft on a large scale.

Of course, the materials of the aircraft are better now.

Li Yu can really understand Zhang Zhidong's thoughts at the moment. After all, metal is too important for modern industry, but the production of aluminum is not very urgent.

But it’s okay if it can be produced earlier, and the demand is far less than that of steel. The electrolytic aluminum process is relatively mature, and the product value is also high. The value to the automobile industry alone is worth producing, and it can even generate considerable benefits.

In addition, Li Yu felt that judging from the current situation, the Hanyang Iron Factory is next to the Hanyang Armory Factory and the Steel Pharmaceutical Factory, and at the same time it is producing gunpowder. Naturally, he would not use munitions, but in fact there is one thing that is very close to some materials used in munitions. .

When Zhang Zhidong heard that Li Yu said that aluminum could be made, Zhang Zhidong's mood was lifted: "Would it be as difficult to smelt aluminum as iron?"

Li Yu said: "Master Zhang, the production of aluminum mainly requires electricity, so I think you can first support the power company as appropriate."

Zhang Zhidong was surprised: "Electricity? I know this. But why do we need electricity? Isn't it like making iron?"

Li Yu explained: "The production process of aluminum is different, and electricity is needed. And when it comes to the foundation of industry, it is not steel, but strictly speaking, it is electricity."

Zhang Zhidong touched his beard: "Electricity? When I was working in Guangzhou, Timothy Lee brought me a generator. At that time, I lit up a hundred bulbs. It really felt very fresh. Listen to me Say, besides lighting, what else can electricity do?"

The first light in Guangzhou history was indeed lit when Zhang Zhidong was an official.

However, it is clear that Chinese people at this time know too little about electricity, after all, they cannot be seen or touched.

No, you get electrocuted when you touch it...

Li Yu said: "Industrial civilization is basically built on electricity, and it can do too many things."

Zhang Zhidong was thoughtful, "Then, if there is no electricity, there will be no aluminum?"

"Yes!" Li Yu nodded vigorously, "Conversely, with electricity, there are more other things. Needless to say, foreigners cannot live without electricity."

"It turns out that foreigners value electricity so much," Zhang Zhidong clenched his fists, "That's fine, I know you understand Western learning, and I must take your suggestion. Isn't it just a power plant? I've seen some of these before. Do it!"

Li Yu said: "Your Excellency is wise."

If the Hankou Concession is not counted, it was almost three years later, that is, in 1906, that Wuhan officially established a power generation company.

But this thing is really the sooner the better, and the greater the power generation, the better.

An installed capacity of 100 to 300 kilowatts is enough now—naturally, it cannot be compared with Wuhan’s installed capacity of [-] kilowatts in [-] years.

Moreover, Wuhan relies on the Yangtze River and has a well-developed water system, so it is completely possible to use hydropower.In fact, the first power company in Wuhan used hydropower.

Speaking of which, if electrolytic aluminum is really produced with water and electricity, it will be really environmentally friendly...

We must know that before Li Yu was "electricized" into this era, we had already begun to consider using more water and electricity in the electrolytic aluminum industry, after all, carbon emissions are low.

It's just that in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, there was no need to think so much, after all, there was only a little electricity demand.Now water and electricity, can be regarded as crooked.

Li Yu said, "In addition, Mr. Zhang, I think you can also consider producing chemical fertilizers."

Zhang Zhidong heard this word for the first time: "Chemical fertilizer?"

"It's fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, chemical fertilizer for short." Li Yu said.

"Fertilizer?" Zhang Zhidong asked again, "For fertilization?"

Li Yu said: "That's right. I see that next to our iron factory is an arsenal and a steel and pharmaceutical factory. I think the materials can also be used to produce nitrogen fertilizer."

Zhang Zhidong didn't understand, so he said, "That's okay? What's the use of producing fertilizer? I've been in the field before, and I saw that the villagers used farmyard manure."

Li Yu smiled and said, "That's not enough. If we can use chemical fertilizers, we can at least increase the production by half."

Zhang Zhidong said in surprise: "Increase the output by half?!"

Li Yu said: "Yes, this is the power of modern industry."

Li Yu could only mention such words to Zhang Zhidong.

Because in fact, most senior officials in the late Qing Dynasty did not pay much attention to agricultural production, which was the most important thing for local officials, that is, county magistrates.

After all, the land tax is the county magistrate's biggest source of income, and according to official rules, no one dares to touch this income.

Senior officials all know what the officials below do: use all kinds of strange means to raise food prices.In the past, magistrates used to kick a container for weighing rice. This kick contains the housekeeping skills of magistrates, and there will be less food when they kick it down.

But by the end of the Qing Dynasty, the magistrates had directly torn their faces, almost equivalent to Ming robbery.Don't directly use rice, but convert it into silver and hand it over.

The space that can be manipulated here is much larger than a kick.

For example, one tael of silver was originally equivalent to 100 catties of rice, but the local officials directly raised it to 100 taels of silver for 5 catties of rice.

Among them, the profit margin that has quadrupled is used by officials to enrich their own pockets.

What is it?This is the "parent official" who "loved the people like children" in the late Qing Dynasty.

But the officials at the top basically don't care about it, because most county magistrates have to go up through various charcoal and ice respects.

This is a chronic disease in the officialdom in the late Qing Dynasty, and it is an advanced malignant tumor, which cannot be cured.

Of course, in addition to this, there are still many advanced cancers replaced by the late Qing government, who have long been terminally ill and are at the mercy of others.

Since the land tax is very important, even the local officials who are usually kind are very cruel when it comes to collecting money and food.

In the Qing Dynasty, there were two diaries who were particularly good at keeping diaries. One was the famous Zeng Guofan, who wrote about 130 million words.

The other is a county magistrate in Guangdong named Du Fengzhi. This guy is even more ruthless. He has been a county magistrate for 14 years and wrote a diary of 400 million words!

For the history of the late Qing Dynasty, these are very precious and authentic historical materials, because they are written by themselves, they are relatively private, and they will not consider too many other factors.

Even if Du Fengzhi is a county magistrate who is praised by the local people, his annual income is more than 2 taels of silver.

Usually he is pretty good to the common people, but when it comes time to collect food, he becomes a different person.

Because the collection of land tax is not only closely related to their income, but also a direct source of income; the punishment for ineffective collection is also very heavy: those who fail to complete 10% of the tax collection will not be allowed to be promoted, and they will be fined for one year; those who fail to complete 50% To be dismissed.

Du Fengzhi himself said that one-third of the year is spent collecting land taxes.

But the people are suffering, and generally they can't pay the grain on time.Du Fengzhi took the grain requisition team to collect food in various places. The grain requisition team consisted of grain books, grain messengers, books, committee members, masters, officials and relatives, as well as more than 100 people including bearers, yamen chaps, and Zhuang Yong. Sweeping the countryside mightily.

Du Fengzhi wrote in his diary that sometimes people sent into the village were driven out by the villagers with feces and urine, and then the food requisition team would arrest the person, and if they couldn’t catch them, they would arrest his wife and children, or remove the furniture, and then set fire to the house Liwei.

This trick is very ruthless. When the villagers see the house burned, they will honestly hand over money and food in exchange for their family members, and then get back the big furniture, and they will obediently pay the food tax in the future.

But the people don't have much stock left.

Now the rural areas basically use farmyard manure, that is, organic manure. Although it is quite healthy, people don’t eat much, so they can grow as much as possible.

If we can produce chemical fertilizers and increase the output, at least the people can live better.

Other chemical fertilizers such as potash fertilizers are difficult to obtain raw materials, but phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers can always be obtained.

Let’s talk about nitrogen fertilizer first. Ammonium nitrate is also used in the production of gunpowder in the arsenal.

This kind of thing is a typical example of one side of angel and one side of devil.On the one hand, nitrogen fertilizer can be produced to solve the human food problem; on the other hand, explosives can be produced to destroy the world.

Of course, there are many ways to make nitrogen fertilizer. After all, this thing is the number one fertilizer consumed by humans.

As for phosphate fertilizers, it's just a matter of trying to figure out who has mines. Coincidentally, China's phosphate mines are located in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Hubei.

In short, nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers are our housekeeping skills, and there is no shortage of resources.

Potassium fertilizer is a bit troublesome to say, and potassium salt is needed.The distribution of this thing is concentrated, mainly in Canada, Russia, and Belarus, and our country and the United States are less than those three countries.

Basically, the global potassium salt is in the hands of these five countries.

But the main ones are Canada, Damao and Ermao.

Later, when a certain Russia was sanctioned by the West, it had four trump cards in its hand. In addition to oil, natural gas, and grain, it was fertilizer.

When it was said that it might not export Western fertilizers, the West was so frightened that it really trembled. Even the United Nations was afraid that the big hair would be impatient and would not export it, which would detonate the food crisis in the world.

Anyway, chemical fertilizers seem to be inconspicuous, but they are actually very important things.

As for the food war in later generations, it is really a battlefield without gunpowder.

One more thing, our potash exploration is really as tragic as the original oil exploration.

Until the 1990s, we basically relied on imports of potassium salts, and then organized a large number of scientific researchers to search for potassium salts all over the country.Fortunately, our land is large, relying on the sacrifices of countless martyrs, after going through untold hardships, we finally found them in Xinjiang and Qinghai, mainly concentrated in Qaidam and Lop Nur, and 80% of them were in Qinghai.

There is a movie "Lop Nur of Life and Death", which talks about this matter.

But even so, we still rely on imports for half of our potash fertilizers. Fortunately, our relationship with Russia and Russia is pretty good now, so there is no need to worry.

On the contrary, Europe is now a big victim, because there was no natural gas in the first place, and now there is no chemical fertilizer, so it can only be imported.It's completely cheap for Lao Mei, who is selling her gas and fertilizer, and she is soft-hearted when she makes a lot of money.

This is the next story, in short, a thousand words, must not underestimate the seemingly inconspicuous chemical fertilizers, they can contribute 40% - 60% of today's grain production.

In other words, without chemical fertilizers, grain production would be reduced by about half.

Of course, it can also be understood that with the use of chemical fertilizers, food production can be doubled.

(End of this chapter)