"Eucommia, what is this?"

In the office, looking at the reports sent by the Steam Engine Research Institute on a regular basis, Fang Nan's head was full of question marks.

It has been more than two years since the birth of the practical Type A steam engine, and the Type B steam engine that Fang Nan wants more is still under steady development, and perhaps the practical Type B steam engine will be born next year.

The report sent today said that the Steam Engine Research Institute has discovered a material that will speed up the research and development progress of the Type B steam engine, which comes from Eucommia ulmoides, which was proposed by a craftsman from the Steam Engine Research Institute in Guangxi, which can effectively solve the problem of sealing the steam engine.

The steam engine Fang Nan knows a little about the sealing of the steam engine, and if you don't solve this problem, don't think about taking out the practical steam engine.

The best way to solve the problem of tightness of the steam engine is naturally rubber, but rubber trees grow on the American continent, and the People's Army does not yet have ships that can sail to the sea, and the road is long, I don't know how many years it will take to bring rubber trees back, and it will take a long time for large-scale planting.

Historically, Watt's improved steam engines did not originally use rubber, but instead used metal gaskets that could expand and contract, but rubber was a better choice.

Originally, Fang Nan first used metal gaskets for the steam engine, and then built a steam ship that could go to the sea, and then went to the American continent to bring back rubber trees.

Now the Steam Engine Research Institute actually told Fang Nan that there was a substitute for rubber in the land of China, this is the knowledge that Fang Nan did not understand, in Fang Nan's memory, there was no word "Eucommia", let alone what Eucommia ulmoides was.

In fact, Eucommia ulmoides is a plant, also known as bakelite, that can reach a height of up to 20 meters and a diameter at breast height of about 50 centimeters.

Medicinal Eucommia ulmoides, that is, the dried bark of Eucommia ulmoides, is a precious tonic medicinal material, its taste is sweet, warm, has the effect of nourishing the liver and kidneys, strengthening muscles and bones, conditioning Chongren, and strengthening the fetus, and can treat the waist and leg pain or soreness and weakness caused by kidney yang deficiency, and the twins are not solid caused by liver qi deficiency, and the symptoms of dampness and itching, which are listed as the top grade in the "Shennong Materia Medica".

The leaves, bark and peel of Eucommia ulmoides are rich in a white filamentous substance, Eucommia ulmoides gum.

Eucommia ulmoides gum is an excellent polymer material with rubber and plastic duality, and the monomer of natural rubber and eucommia gum is isoprene. However, the molecular structure is different, eucommia gum is trans-polyisoprene, and natural rubber is cis-polyisoprene.

Natural rubber has large internal energy, cis isomerism, two atoms with the same electronegativity are on the same side of the molecule, and the dipole moment is larger, so it has a lower melting point and greater solubility. It has good compliance and therefore high elasticity, and is used as a rubber material.

The atomic arrangement of Eucommia ulmoides rubber is relatively symmetrical, and the molecular energy is discharged into the crystal structure, so it has a higher melting point, and the atoms and atomic groups with different electronegativity are arranged on the same side, so the dipole distance is small and the solubility is low. The properties are relatively stable, easy to crystallize, and the flexibility is poor, so it is used as a hard material.

Therefore, eucommia gum can be used instead of natural rubber.

More importantly, Eucommia ulmoides is a unique plant in China, widely distributed in Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Zhejiang and other provinces and regions, and the seedlings of Eucommia ulmoides can be used to extract rubber, the age of the tree increases to 10~15 years, and more than 270 kg of rubber can be produced per hectare.

Compared to rubber trees as far away as the American continent, eucommia trees are a very good choice.

In addition, rubber can be used not only in steam engines, but also in the manufacture of medical hoses, tires, etc., rubber can be said to be an important raw material in the industry.

Fang Nan asked people to collect information about Eucommia ulmoides, mainly the information collected about the use of Eucommia as a medicinal material, Fang Nan looked directly at it and then went straight to the direction, if it was really reported to the Steam Engine Research Institute, if it could be replaced by Eucommia gum instead of rubber trees, then Fang Nan could order someone to establish a plantation in the Eucommia Tree.

Rubber trees can only be planted on Qiongzhou Island, but eucommia trees can be planted in most areas of China, as long as eucommia trees are valuable, they can start large-scale artificial planting, and the specific artificial planting methods are studied by the Department of Agriculture.

……

Half a year has passed since the People's Army occupied Guangxi, Jiangxi, Huguang, and Fujian provinces, and with the efforts of the Guangdong businessmen, commercial trade in the newly occupied areas has been carried out normally.

The small group of merchants left behind in the newly occupied area couldn't help it when they saw the active Guangdong businessmen, suppressed the fear in their hearts, and continued to do business, they didn't want their businesses to be robbed by the Guangdong businessmen.

One of the things that surprised upper-middle-income families in the newly occupied territories was the glass business.

In the area ruled by the People's Army, glass is still the exclusive business of the People's Chamber of Commerce, and other businessmen who want to do glass business can only buy from the People's Chamber of Commerce and then sell it to the Ming Dynasty.

However, the new trade route has not been opened, and at this time, the Ming ruling area is "training troops", spending money like flowing water, and selling glass to the Ming ruling area may not make too much silver.

The People's Chamber of Commerce quickly established branches and branches in various parts of the newly occupied areas, and large quantities of glass and glass mirrors were then transported to various places, and glass and glass mirrors were sold at a slightly higher price than in Guangdong according to the distance.

A palm-sized glass mirror is sold for only one dime of equal coins in Guangdong, and the highest price of equal coins in the newly occupied area will not exceed two equal coins, and last year, such a palm-sized equal coin was sold for as much as a quantity of silver.

Now that such cheap glass mirrors and glass have begun to be sold, the middle- and upper-income families in the newly occupied areas are dumbfounded, and in their hearts, even if the glass mirror is no longer a precious treasure, it can be regarded as a slightly higher value, and the glass mirror sold by the People's Chamber of Commerce is simply a cheap item.

Take a look at the palm-sized glass mirror that I used to spend a few taels of silver to buy, and then look at the cheap glass mirror sold by the People's Chamber of Commerce, the material is the same, but the price is different, don't wait, buy and buy directly, the large-size glass mirror that the rich could afford in the past, they can afford it now.

Glass sales in the newly occupied area began to increase, the sales of large-size glass mirrors in Guangdong decreased but the sales of small-size glass mirrors grew rapidly, the people of Guangdong have ushered in several harvests, family savings gradually increased, large-size glass mirrors can not afford to buy, medium-sized glass mirrors are reluctant to buy, but small-size glass mirrors can still be bought, especially families who are ready to get married.

In view of the increase in glass sales, the Ministry of Industry is already planning to build two more glass factories outside Guangdong.