The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style
Chapter 292 Emerging Industries
Chapter 292 Emerging Industries
On June 1732, 6, a heavy rain came unexpectedly, instantly shrouding the entire city of Chang'an in mist and rain.
Raindrops as small as needles fell densely on the ground, making a rustling sound. Umbrellas could not block the rain, which gathered into streams on the road and flowed into the sewers on both sides. The sky became dark, and the whole city was immersed in a gloomy tone.
The buildings and trees in the distance were all submerged in the fog and blurred. The raindrops bouncing off the road formed countless tiny ripples, and the ripples reflected the flowing scene. The whole city seemed to be trapped in a huge plasma ball, shrouded by rain and fog, making it impossible to see the truth.
It was winter, and it was normal that Chang'an City didn't have much rain in this season. People would only feel the cold wind from the Dadong Mountain (the Great Dividing Range), which forced people to wear slightly heavier coats. Therefore, this heavy rain obviously caught the residents walking on the street off guard, and they took shelter in the shops along the street or under the eaves, hoping that the rain would end soon.
"This is..." Yu Niang looked at the pair of rain rubber shoes that Ke Guangyong handed over, and her face couldn't help but blush slightly.
Deep down in her heart, the shoes a woman wears on her feet should be a private thing. How could she let a man buy them for her in broad daylight?
Seeing this, the female companions who came with them also laughed secretly.
"It's raining so hard. When you return to the hotel, the water on the road will definitely soak your shoes." Ke Guangyong wiped the rain from his forehead and said seriously, "Although the winter in Chang'an is not very cold, it is inevitable that your whole body will be cold after being soaked by rain. If you are not careful, you may catch a cold and get sick. If that happens, you may not be able to perform on stage."
"Mr. Ke..." Yu Niang wanted to refuse, but she didn't know how to reject it politely.
Over the past few months, the young man from the Ke family had been very obvious about his feelings for her.
However, I have been selling myself to the opera troupe since I was young and have no freedom at all. How could I have the qualifications to have a romantic relationship with him?
Besides, the young man from the Ke family had a barbarian face, and there was still a trace of resistance in his heart, thinking that he was not a good match.
Of course, as a weak woman, I had no right to choose and could only go with the flow. If he could redeem me and pay the troupe owner two thousand dollars to buy my freedom and escape the fate of menial labor, then even if I gave myself to him, I would accept my fate.
However, after such a long time, although the young man from the Ke family kept saying that he would raise the money to repay his "debt" to the troupe, there has been no follow-up.
Alas, he was probably unable to fulfill his promise due to strong opposition from his elders at home who refused to provide him with such a huge sum of money.
Yes, how could such a large sum of money be spent on a woman of such low status as her?
"These rubber shoes have only been available in recent years. When you wear them on rainy days, you don't have to worry about getting soaked by rainwater, let alone the trouble of getting dirty and not being able to wash them clean." Ke Guangyong said proudly, "Look at the surface of these rubber shoes, they are smooth and soft. After being stained, you only need to rinse them with clean water to restore them to their original cleanliness. Oh, by the way, there is also a great waterproof artifact for rainy days. Guess what it is?"
"What is it?" Yu Niang asked subconsciously.
"Rain boots are to prevent rain and mud from getting on your feet, so the clothing to protect you from the rain is naturally a raincoat." Ke Guangyong said, pointing to several pedestrians wearing raincoats outside the window, "See, those people are wearing raincoats, which can completely block the rain and prevent the whole body from being soaked by the rain. Well, whether it is work or outdoor walking, as long as you put on a raincoat and rain boots, you can be fearless of rain. Do you know what materials they are made of?"
"...I don't know." Yu Niang stared blankly at the pedestrians who were wearing raincoats and rubber boots. They didn't hold umbrellas, but they seemed not to be deterred by the heavy rain. They hurriedly ran to every corner of the city.
"rubber."
"Banana?" Yu Niang was stunned when she heard that.
Can sweet and delicious bananas be turned into raincoats and rubber shoes to protect you from the rain?
"It's not the kind of banana that can be eaten." Ke Guangyong looked embarrassed. Could it be that he had an Ottoman accent?
Then, he quickly explained, "It's the kind of rubber tree that can produce milky white liquid. Our Qi country's factory processes the collected raw rubber through several processes, and finally produces raincoats and pairs of rain rubber shoes. Our Ke family has several rubber plantations in Weiyuan and Xuanhua, which provide a large amount of raw rubber to domestic rubber product factories every year. If there is a chance, I will definitely take you to see what those rubber trees look like."
As early as more than 60 years ago, the State of Qi obtained thousands of wild rubber tree seedlings from the interior of Brazil through the channels of the State of Qing, and then carefully cultivated and propagated them on Xuanhua Island (now Timor Island), and finally achieved the goal of rubber transplanting.
In the 1666th year of Qianwu (), the first rubber factory was established in Zhenhai (now Dili City), and began to produce daily necessities such as waterproof tape and waterproof tarpaulin.
In the 1669th year of Qianwu (), a senior craftsman from the "Dingji" rubber factory in Weiyuan (now Port Moresby) discovered that repeated processing of rubber through the rotation gap between two rollers could reduce its elasticity and viscosity and improve its plasticity to a certain extent. This discovery laid the foundation for the development of the rubber industry in Qi State. Rubber products also became more diversified and the scale of the rubber industry expanded.
However, rubber products at that time would slowly harden and lose their elasticity if left in low temperature environments for a long time, which means that in cold areas or seasons, rubber products would have a high probability of losing their effectiveness.
In addition, raw rubber that has been dissolved by solvents can easily decompose and lose its effectiveness once it encounters hot weather.
These two problems have greatly hindered the further development of the rubber industry.
It was not until the 1720th year of Taiping () that the method of rubber vulcanization was invented, which overcame the above-mentioned shortcomings of raw rubber in one fell swoop, making the rubber have many excellent properties such as high strength, high elasticity, high wear resistance, corrosion resistance, etc., and promoted this material to a larger scale market application, completely eliminating various obstacles.
As Qi's "Industrial Revolution" continued to advance in depth into various fields, the pace of development of the rubber industry also became faster and faster. The advancement of science and technology gave rubber more active and advanced productivity, and a large number of rubber industrial products came into the market one after another.
Rubber is not only used in many civilian production fields, but also in every carriage tire, water pipe, stamp, valve, plug and wiring system in the military, which are inseparable from rubber raw materials. It has become the most important industrial raw material for the industrial development of Qi State after coal and iron ore.
A chemist once discovered that rubber can erase pencil markings, which made the product very popular in the cultural and educational industries, preventing primary school students from scribbling on their homework books into ugly clumps.
From rubber planting, to refining of raw rubber, production and processing, to rubber trade, and finally to the production and manufacturing of rubber products, over the decades, Qi State has formed a complete rubber industry chain and firmly controlled the technological and trade monopoly advantages in global rubber production.
According to rough estimates, the global rubber industry has reached a scale of more than 80 million yuan, and is increasing at a rate of more than 20% per year, and Qi State alone accounts for 80% of the output value. It is also a pity that Portuguese Brazil has been operating for more than 200 years, and just like the British North American colonial territories, it has only developed and built a narrow strip along the coast and has not penetrated too deep into the inland.
With the rise of the rubber industry, the rainforest area inland Brazil suddenly became a hot spot for Portuguese investment (colonization). Like the gold rush, wave after wave of expeditions went deep into the Amazon rainforest to find and cut down rubber trees. The Portuguese did not know how the Qi people collected raw rubber, so they directly adopted a simple and crude method. Like cutting down Brazilian rosewood, they felled the rubber trees, cut the bark and collected the rubber liquid.
As the demand for rubber continued to increase due to large-scale industrial production, more and more investors flocked to Weiyuan Island, the Nanyang Islands, and the Malay Peninsula to open rubber plantations one after another, giving rise to a wave of development in the Nanyang region.
In recent decades, in addition to the rise of the rubber industry, emerging industries such as cocoa, oil palm, and coffee have also entered a period of explosive growth, driving a new wave of consumption boom.
Back then, the Spaniards improved the cocoa drink that did not suit their taste. They added sugar to the cocoa drink and added flavorings such as cinnamon and musk to create a hot drink called chocolate, which soon became popular among the upper class in Europe.
Before the invention of machine grinding, cocoa could only be processed by hand grinding, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the output was low. Although it was very popular in Europe, it had always been a high-end drink that only the rich could afford.
After the State of Qi transplanted cocoa on a large scale in the Nanyang region and carried out industrial processing, large-scale production of chocolate became possible, while the cost was reduced accordingly.
With the technological breakthrough of converting chocolate from liquid to solid, humans began to "eat" chocolate. Coupled with the large-scale planting of plantations, industrial processing, and the continuous decline in sugar prices, chocolate began to become popular in Qi in a very short time.
In the Qi army, chocolate became an essential military supply after cigarettes, sugar and canned food.
Of course, in daily life, cocoa drinks and chocolate are also important tools for Qi men to pick up girls.
After coming to Qi, Yu Niang didn't feel good when she ate chocolate for the first time. It was a sweet food, but it tasted bitter, which made her feel uncomfortable. She almost pinched her nose and forced herself to swallow it.
But later I discovered that the sweetness after the bitterness seems to have a longer aftertaste and is sweeter than ordinary sweetness.
Just like when she is practicing her stage performance, the harder she practices, the happier she will be when the performance is successful.
Later on, she actually became very fond of eating chocolate. She would often buy some chocolates to reward herself for a day's hard work after a performance, or when she went shopping with her sisters in the troupe, or when she was invited by the young men of the Ke family.
The nearly one year in Qi was the time in her life when she experienced the most new things and tasted new foods.
I have taken a ride on a giant steel ship, crossed thousands of miles of ocean waves, felt the speed of a train trip, seen a "big balloon" that can fly into the sky, appreciated the scenery like the Mobei prairie, and marveled at the endless cattle and sheep.
I have drunk bitter yet mellow coffee, tasted European-style ice cream, eaten exotic foods from all over the world, and tasted cheese and chocolate of different flavors.
The people of Qi were always able to create many new things, invent amazingly ingenious tools, and even make rare things that had never existed in the world.
The abundance of material life enjoyed by the people of Qi would surprise any visitor.
In Daqin, there were still many places where people were hungry and cold, and they struggled for survival every day.
The people of Qi not only had enough food and warm clothing, but they also ate exceptionally well and dressed more appropriately.
Meat, poultry and eggs account for a considerable proportion of their diet, which is far inferior to that of the landlords in the Jiangnan region of Daqin.
The people of Qi not only ate a lot of meat, but were also more willing to add oil when cooking, making the dishes seem fatter.
It is said that the oil sold in the Qi market is called palm oil, which is very cheap, much cheaper than the various vegetable oils squeezed by traditional methods in Daqin. A few dimes can buy a large barrel, which is enough for a family of five to use for a month.
Ke Guangyong told them that after decades of development, in addition to countless rubber plantations, cocoa plantations, coffee plantations and rice plantations in the Nanyang region, there are also a large number of oil palm plantations that can provide Qi State with hundreds of thousands of tons of palm oil every year.
The reason why palm oil is so cheap is that the economic life of an oil palm tree is 25 to 30 years. Once it enters the peak fruit-bearing period, it can be harvested and pressed for oil all year round, and the yield is more than kilograms per mu, which is extremely high. The conventional oil crop with the highest oil yield is peanuts, which only yields to kilograms per mu on average.
In other words, to harvest the same amount of oil, palm oil occupies the least land, has higher economic value and lower relative cost.
Therefore, for ordinary people, as long as they are not too particular about the taste of the oil, they will generally choose to buy cheaper palm oil.
As the production of palm oil continues to grow, the State of Qi has gradually begun to include it as one of its key export products. I believe that in the near future, more people and gentry in the Qin territory will be able to eat this low-priced oil.
As a citizen of Qi, you should feel happy.
Not only did they earn more money, but they also enjoyed a more abundant life.
They were always able to create one huge industry after another through continuous development and research of new things. In addition to creating more jobs and opportunities to make money for the people of Qi, they also provided their citizens with more material choices.
(End of this chapter)
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