At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 449: The Man with Technological Explosion

"Oil lamp!" Hu Hai, who entered the Western Regions, almost laughed out loud when he saw the crude lamp oil. The Han Dynasty also had oil lamps, and their quality was obviously much better than those in the Western Regions. The princes of the Western Regions did not make jade or agate, but actually wanted to compete with the Han Dynasty in handicrafts. This was like showing off his axe in front of Lu Ban.

Zhao Yu, who was following behind Hu Hai, pulled Hu Hai's hand, expressing his dissatisfaction with his mockery of others.

But when Jia Sheng and the other two saw that a customer had finally arrived, especially one who looked like a wealthy customer, they didn't care about these things at all. They immediately surrounded them and said, "What we sell here is not oil lamps, but lamp oil."

Jia Sheng took out a tin box and said, "We have a special product in the Western Regions called fierce fire oil. I extracted this fuel called kerosene from fierce fire. It is brighter than ordinary lamp oil and the price is very low. It only costs one penny per pound, which is one seventh of the current soybean oil. Does this boss have any demand to buy our lamp oil? Our Jiguo officials, you bought a large quantity, and there are troops to escort it."

After saying that, Jia Sheng lit a kerosene lamp, and the brightness of the wick was indeed much brighter than that of soybean oil.

This aroused Hu Hai's interest. In this day and age, nothing made more money than food, clothing, housing and transportation. Oil lamps were also a necessity in daily life, and the market was worth tens of billions of dollars a year. If the price of kerosene was several times lower than that of soybean oil, then the lamp oil market in the Han Dynasty would change dramatically.

Hu Hai asked, "Tell me what's going on with your fierce fire oil?"

Jia Sheng said: "There is a black liquid in the Western Regions called fierce fire oil. As the name suggests, this thing burns very fiercely and cannot be extinguished even by water. The local army generally uses it for fire attacks. It is a kind of military material. But after my Han Dynasty occupied the Western Regions, the order in the Western Regions was stabilized, and fierce fire oil began to be gradually abandoned. Someone accidentally extracted kerosene from fierce fire oil. It is very effective as lamp oil and the price is very low. Fierce fire oil is very common in the Western Regions. It is not a problem to produce hundreds of millions of kilograms a year."

Hu Hai noticed something was wrong and asked, "Doesn't the Han people have this fierce fire oil?"

No matter how many people there are in the Western Regions, it will be of no use. The 4,000-mile distance to Hexi is enough to increase the price of kerosene tenfold, which will give the Han Dynasty no advantage in lamp oil.

Jia Sheng immediately said, "My family's Duke has already requested the court to build a railway connecting the Western Regions to Chang'an City. Once the railway is completed, the cost of transporting kerosene can be reduced by more than ten times."

Wan Yu was unwilling to see a person who had finally come to ask questions leave like that, so he immediately said, "Our Han Dynasty has a vast territory. If we have flaming oil in the Western Regions, we must have some in the Han Dynasty's interior as well."

But Hu Hai shook his head and said, "I'd better wait for the news to be confirmed. Without the track, everything is nonsense. A 10-mile track is not cheap. The cost of construction alone is billion coins. I have also traveled to the north and south of the Han Dynasty, but I have never heard of the thing called fierce fire oil."

But suddenly Hu Hai had a flash of inspiration and asked, "You just said that fierce fire oil is a black liquid?"

Jia Sheng nodded and said, "It's dark in color and the oil is thick."

Hu Hai suddenly remembered that when his elder brother went to Shangjun to escort grain and grass, he was reselling grain coupons in Shangjun at that time. When he passed Gaonu County, he saw a kind of black liquid that could burn there, but it burned with smoke and was not suitable as fuel or lamp oil.

This is not a coincidence. Moreover, the production area of ​​this kerosene is right near the track. As long as it is refined and transported to Guanzhong by train, it will definitely sweep the entire Guanzhong lamp oil market.

Hu Hai continued to ask: "Does the patent for kerosene belong to Duke Ji or to you?"

Jia Sheng said: "It was someone who discovered kerosene, so the patent naturally belongs to someone."

Hu Hai said excitedly: "Little brother, do you have any idea of ​​doing business? You can use the patent of kerosene as technical shares, and I will invest money to build an oil refinery to refine lamp oil in Dahan."

Chen Cheng looked at Hu Hai with suspicion and said, "You know the location of the Han fierce fire oil."

Hu Hai was shocked to realize that he had let the cat out of the bag, but it didn't matter. The Han Dynasty had very strict supervision over mineral resources. Even if they could mine pyrotechnic oil, it wouldn't be a big deal for him. But if they wanted to refine kerosene, they would need the authorization of the developer, so he nodded and said, "Yes, as long as we cooperate, I can tell you the location of the pyrotechnic oil."

Jia Sheng said: "I am a subordinate of Duke Ji. How can I open a workshop in the Han Dynasty? Besides, kerosene is a specialty that Ji State wants to promote."

Hu Hai said: "Looking at your situation, it is clear that you are not valued in Ji State. Why don't you stay in Han and open an oil refinery? With the prospect of kerosene, it is not long before you become rich enough to rival a country. This is much better than a petty official."

The three of them looked at each other in surprise. They came to the Han Dynasty to promote lamp oil and had never thought about starting their own business. But now that they thought about the wealthy merchant on one side and the official status of the Ji State on the other, they really didn't know how to make a decision.

Jia Sheng said: "This is a big deal, I need to think about it."

Hu Hai said: "The Expo will not end in one day. I will come to you after it ends. I hope you will think it over."

After Hu Hai took Zhao Yu away, Jia Sheng hesitated and asked, "How should we choose?"

Wan Yu said, "It depends on what you think. If kerosene can really be promoted, and you have made great contributions, I think you can become an official with a salary of 1,000 liters, and you may have a bright future."

Chen Cheng said: "The key is whether the track connecting to the west can be built. If it can't be built, it's better to stay in the Han Dynasty. At least you can get rich."

This really made Jia Sheng hesitate. One was an official position, and the other was money. He didn't know how to choose.

Hu Hai left the Western Regions booth and came to the Liaodong booth, which had become an agricultural and sideline products area, with all kinds of animal furs and coats, herbs, and he even saw a kind of herb that looked somewhat like a human.

Then he saw dozens of huge ship models. Zhao Yu, who was beside him, was so busy looking at these ship models that he could hardly walk.

The guy at the exhibition proudly said to the crowd, "This smallest ship model is a 2000-ton fishing boat built by our Liaodong Shipyard. As long as you buy such a fishing boat and go fishing in Jingchuan Sea, even if you can't catch a whale, fishing in the sea can make you rich. With the richness of the Jingchuan Sea fishery, a sea boat can pay back the investment in just five years. If you are lucky and encounter fish, you can pay back the investment in one or two years. This income is not as high as opening a workshop in the Han Dynasty."

Then he pointed to a medium-sized ship model and said, "This is a 5000-ton whaling ship. As long as you can get a whaling license, you can get your money back in three years at most."

Whales are full of treasures, and whaling is a lucrative industry in the Han Dynasty. In order to protect whale resources and allow the Han Dynasty to obtain enough profits, Xu Fan requires that ships that want to hunt whales must apply for a whaling license and pay 2000 million yuan in fees to the Han Dynasty every year. This fee alone can bring more than 5 million yuan in taxes to the Han Dynasty every year.

Most people looked at it and shook their heads. The whaling industry was basically monopolized by the princes of Liaodong, and it was difficult for outsiders to get involved. Even if they bought a whaling ship, without the consent of these local tyrants, they would probably disappear with the people and the ship, and no one would know what happened.

Then the waiter pointed to a long and narrow ship and said, "This is a 5000-ton fast transport ship. The speed of this ship is more than twice that of an ordinary ship. When we were testing it, it only took 14 days to travel from Kuaiji County to the Spice Island using this fast ship."

But someone immediately retorted: "Maritime trade is about safety rather than speed. What's the difference between half a month and a month? But if the ship capsizes, nothing can be saved."

Among all the cargo transportation of the Han Dynasty, sea trade is the least time-consuming, but the safety requirements are very high. The Han Dynasty has more than 10 years of experience in overseas development and has a relatively deep understanding of the astronomical phenomena in the South China Sea. The safety performance of various ships has increased several times, and watertight compartment technology has also been applied. However, because the number of Han Dynasty ships is increasing every year, the number of shipwrecks is also increasing. The safety performance requirements for ships at sea are very high.

The clerk assured, "Don't worry, everyone. The keels of our Liaodong Shipyard are all made of century-old wood. There is no ship in the world that is more sturdy than our Liaodong ships. And the speed is also useful. Think about it, in the same amount of time, others can make one sea trade trip, but you can make two trips, and earn twice as much as others."

But the merchants around him still shook their heads and said, "This slender ship doesn't look safe. You should accept other ships."

The guy said, "There are safe ones, too."

The man pointed to the largest ship model and said, "This is the largest ship made by our Liaodong Shipyard. It has tens of thousands of materials. There are densely packed watertight compartments at the bottom of the cabin, a total of 26 watertight compartments, and all of these watertight compartments are independently closed. Even if four watertight compartments are broken, the ship will not capsize. It also has our latest balanced rudder system, so it is as stable as a mountain at sea. In addition, its huge size is enough to withstand wind and waves. It can be said that this is an unsinkable ship."

The introduction of the Wanliao ship attracted the attention of the Han people. The ship was large and could hold a lot of cargo. It had 26 watertight compartments. The safety of the ship was naturally several times higher than other ships. As for the balanced rudder, they had never heard of it, but they thought it was a good thing. The most important thing was that the huge body brought a great sense of security. It was obvious that the ship was not easy to capsize. For sea merchants, there was nothing more important than safety.

Hu Hai immediately asked from below: "How much is this ship?"

Hu Hai's current business is all in Southeast Asia. He spends a lot of time every year traveling between the islands in Southeast Asia, so safety at sea has become his top priority. Even though he chooses to go out to sea in winter when the wind and waves are the smallest every year, any amount of money spent on his own safety is worth it. When Hu Hai saw this ship, he planned to use it as his flagship.

The waiter held up three fingers and said, "Not expensive, only three thousand gold."

The whole audience was in an uproar. If three thousand gold is not expensive, then there is no expensive ship.

"This ship of yours is worth the price of 20 small boats of tons. This is not unscrupulous behavior." The sea merchants below were dissatisfied.

With the advancement of technology, the price of a 50-ton ship in the Han Dynasty is about 3000 coins. 20 gold can buy 500 such ships. It is no wonder that the merchants below are dissatisfied. This price is far beyond their expectations. But the clerk said calmly: "You get what you pay for. The keel of a 26-ton ship cannot be built with ordinary wood. My Pei State specially cut down a -year-old wood from the deep mountains and old forests in Liaodong to get this keel. Just to transport this wood from the deep mountains and old forests, it took thousands of people. The cost of this piece of wood is millions of coins, not to mention the watertight compartments on the ship. This is a sense of security that is piled up with money. The waves that can smash a -ton boat are just a small splash for our ship."

To be honest, Hu Hai fell in love with this ship as soon as it appeared, but the price was hard even for him to afford. He did have billions of assets, but not much liquid capital, not to mention that he still had to make investments. It was impossible for him to put all his money into this ship.

But Hu Hai was already one of the few wealthy merchants in the Han Dynasty. Even he could not afford the price, let alone the sea merchants below.

"It's too expensive. Can it be cheaper? We are not princes. We can't easily take out 3000 gold."

"You get what you pay for. If the price is lower than this, my Liaodong Shipyard will not make any money. However, our Liaodong Shipyard has joined forces with Development Bank. As long as you have property to mortgage, you can buy it. If you are interested, please hurry up. My Liaodong Shipyard can only produce two such huge ships every year. If they are ordered by others, you will have to wait in line."

Although the waiter's words were very tempting, the sea merchants on the scene were unmoved. 3000 gold was almost all the assets for many sea merchants. Even those with a net worth exceeding that would have to think carefully.

Therefore, many people placed orders for small sea vessels of 2,000 tons. This type of sea vessel is very cost-effective whether it is for cargo transportation or fishing. Even if they accidentally encounter a shipwreck, they will not lose everything.

As for the so-called unsinkable ship that the guy mentioned, the experienced maritime merchants scoffed at it. The safety performance of such a large ship must have been improved, but to claim that it was unsinkable was just bragging.

Sailing on the sea is like hanging your life on your belt. You may encounter all kinds of huge waves. Even a ship with a lot of tonnage is just a baby in front of such waves. But if such a ship sinks, they will lose everything.

Instead, Hu Hai asked with a smile: "My nephew likes this model, do you sell it?"

The clerk obviously didn't expect that someone would want the model in their hands. He went back to discuss with the manager for a while and said, "We have an extra model. 2000 coins. You can take this model back."

Hu Hai said: "Okay!"

He immediately took out 2000 coins in banknotes, bought the ship model, and then gave it to his nephew Zhao Yu.

On the other side of the venue, Xu Fan, Ji Bu and several other major princes of the Han Dynasty were also visiting.

Ji Bu looked at the steampunk scene and sighed, "The development of our Han Dynasty is really changing with each passing day. I didn't feel it when I was in Hexi a few years ago. I just felt that there were some new things appearing in the Han Dynasty every year, the cities were getting bigger and bigger, and the people were getting more and more.

But after going to the Western Regions, I can only come here once every two or three years. I feel that my Han Dynasty has changed every three years. There are many machines here, and I don’t even know what they are used for. "

Since the Han Dynasty entered the steam age, the whole world has changed faster and faster, far exceeding the original dynasties. Most of the previous machines were made of wood, but now in this venue, most of the machines are made of steel, and their various functions are beyond his imagination.

Xu Fan smiled and said, "I'll take you to see something you can understand."

After that, Xu Fan took Ji Bu to the agricultural tool exhibition area, made a steel machine and said, "This is the latest animal-powered harvester in Chang'an City. It needs ten horses to provide power and can harvest 100 acres of wheat a day. This is a horse plow, which needs ten horses to pull it. It can plow 50 acres of land a day on cultivated land. Your Western Region is vast and sparsely populated, so it is suitable for using these large machines."

Things in the world are like this, there are gains and losses. The craftsmen of the Han Dynasty court created this highly efficient agricultural tool, but it was difficult to promote it within the Han Dynasty.

Because there are not many large tracts of land in the Han Dynasty, most of the farmers in the vast rural areas of the Han Dynasty own hundreds of acres of land. Only military reclamation areas, government-run farms, and noble fiefs have demand for such large machines, but relatively speaking, the demand is not as great as that of the vassal territories of the Han Dynasty, so Xu Fan brought them to see these things.

Ji Bu smiled and said, "These machines are all made of steel and iron. I'm afraid they are not cheap."

Xu Fan said, "It's not that high. An animal-powered harvester costs 7 coins, and a large horse plow costs coins. The Han Dynasty has developed a new type of blast furnace, and now the price of iron has dropped to coins per pound. The drop in the price of steel has also led to a drop in the price of steel products. So don't think that the machine is steel, but the price is not high."

Lu Chen was surprised and asked, "The price of steel can actually be reduced?"

You have to know that these princes of the Han Dynasty all came from the lower classes. They were extremely sensitive to the prices of firewood, rice, oil and salt. During the Qin Dynasty, the price of iron was more than 20 coins, sometimes as high as 30-40 coins. However, during the Han Dynasty, because of the blast furnace, the price of iron plummeted. Even during the war, it did not exceed 10 coins. After the war, it quickly fell to around coins. Ten coins was already a very low price. In the words of later generations, this was the price of cabbage. However, they never expected that there was a price lower than the cabbage price.

Xu Fan said: "The higher the capacity of the blast furnace, the lower the cost of ironmaking. Now my Han Dynasty has already invested 50 jin into the blast furnace, so the cost of ironmaking will naturally decrease. In order to help farmers, the court will provide a horse for every harvester purchased, and a horse for every three horse plows."

Ji Bu and his men were stunned. Buying farm tools and getting a horse for free, what kind of operation was this?
Xu Fan said: "There are too many horses and they are starting to become unsalable. The court is trying to clear out the inventory."

In recent years, the increasing popularity of steam engines has driven cattle and horses out of the power market. It can be said that for every additional steam engine in the Han Dynasty, there will be 10 fewer cattle and horses in the factory. Now that the Han Dynasty will add thousands of steam engines every year, tens of thousands of cattle and horses will be driven out of the animal power market.

Among them, cattle are easy to deal with. A project to help farmers can be set up to sell them to farmers at low prices. Users can buy oxen for drafting at low prices, and the Han Dynasty court also solved the problem of unsalable cattle.

But horses were a very difficult problem. The Han Dynasty had no tradition of horse-drawn plowing, and the transportation industry was being invaded by steam engines, resulting in a sharp drop in demand.

However, horses are one of the main sources of income for herders in the desert. If the income from raising horses is lost, the herders' economic source will be reduced by one third, which will inevitably cause unrest in the desert. By then, the cost of maintaining stability in the desert may exceed the cost of purchasing these horses. Therefore, finding a new market for these horses has become a top priority for the Han court.

Xu Fan thought of horse plowing, which was a highly efficient method of farming and suitable for areas with vast land and sparse population. So he brought the princes to promote these farm tools and digest the horse inventory at the same time.

Ji Bu understood the reason and said with a smile: "My country Ji needs such efficient farm tools. I will order 200 animal-powered harvesters and 500 horse-drawn plows."

Other princes with vast territories and sparse populations also placed orders. These farm tools were what they needed, not to mention that there were such big discounts now.

On the other hand, although the territories of the princes like Ying Bu were also vast and sparsely populated, they were located in the south and the arable land was all hilly, so they had no use for large farm tools.

After thinking for a while, Ji Bu said, "Your Majesty, the Western Region is too far away from the Han mainland. If the princes of the Western Region want to come to visit, it will take half a year. This is not conducive to our connection with the court. I would like to ask the court to build a wooden track connecting the Western Region, which will not only make it convenient for us to come to the Western Region, but also facilitate the court's rule over the Western Region."

Xu Fan said: "It's not impossible for the court to build such wooden tracks if they grit their teeth. The key is that the cost of maintaining wooden tracks is too high. The court can't spend 1 to 2 million yuan every year to maintain this track. It's economically unbearable."

Ji Bu immediately said, "As long as the imperial court can afford the cost of construction and maintenance, we, the princes of the Western Regions, are willing to bear it."

Xu Fan asked, "Are you planning to invest all the money from selling jade and agate into maintaining this track?"

Ji Budao said: "I have a subordinate who extracted something called kerosene from fierce fire oil. This thing can be used as lamp oil, and the price is extremely low. The cost of refining is only one penny, and selling it for two or three pennies can make a good profit."

Kerosene? Isn't this just petroleum? I didn't expect that someone would extract kerosene from petroleum.

"Take me to see it." Xu Fan immediately became interested. If kerosene appeared, would gasoline, diesel, and even internal combustion engines appear?
More than a dozen of them came to Jia Sheng's booth.

The emperor brought a dozen or so important figures to their booth, which made Jia Sheng and his friends very excited. They introduced their kerosene lamps tremblingly, and displayed everything from the cost of refining to the benefits of kerosene.

Xu Fan asked: "If we want to build a track connecting the west and the north, it will not be cost-effective if the amount of kerosene is too small. How much kerosene can your country produce every year?"

Ji Bu said: "There are 24 oil springs in my country, but because they are not very useful, they are just left in the wilderness. It would take at least one million stones to refine them all."

Xu Fan said: "If there is such a large production capacity, then building a track in the Western Region will have economic value. You can go to the Prime Minister to discuss it."

Then Xu Fan smiled and said to Jia Sheng: "You are a talent for refining kerosene from fierce kerosene. You should keep up the good work in the future. I am waiting for you to refine other good things from fierce kerosene that will benefit the world."

The price of cement has never dropped in this era, and the cement roads that Xu Fan expects can only appear in a few large cities like Chang'an. Now we have oil, but we can't make an internal combustion engine, and I can't make asphalt. I don't want cement roads anymore, I want asphalt roads directly.

Jia Sheng and the other two said excitedly: "Yes!"

(End of this chapter)