In the spring of 1915, news of the use of poison gas by Germany came from the European theater. During the attack on Ypres, Belgium, the Germans were the first to use poison gas, they released about 180 tons of chlorine gas, and more than 15,000 British and French troops were poisoned, of whom one-third died.

In retaliation for the release of poison gas by the Germans, the British also used poison gas on 26 May, which also caused heavy losses to the Germans, who thought they were the only ones who had the secret weapon.

As a result, the mode of gas warfare was constantly used by both sides in World War I.

As a neutral country destined for war, Romania was of course quite concerned about the situation. To this end, Eder, as the new king, also went to the Institute of Organic Chemistry in Slobozia, which was set up by Professor Bolvin to study pesticides.

The Romanian chemist who was found by Eder is now one of the few chemists in the country who can do it, mainly because the inorganic pesticides he researches use chlorine as the basic raw material. However, now his organic synthetic pesticides have not yet achieved results, mainly when killing pests, even crops are killed together, even if they are not killed, it will lead to a reduction in crop yields, and the gains will outweigh the losses.

"Your Majesty, welcome to the Institute of Organic Chemistry."

At the entrance of the institute, Professor Bolvin and his team greeted Eder.

As the institute was prepared for him, Bourwin would of course get the news in advance. Because of the delay in the news, he didn't know that gas warfare had been used, so he thought it was because Eder had come to inspect because of the lack of results in the past few years. The whole person is a bit bumpy, for fear that Eder will no longer invest money to support his own research and development of organic synthetic pesticides.

It should be noted here that the pesticides used in Europe are mainly inorganic pesticides, including stone sulfur mixture made by boiling the same amount of lime and sulfur-flavored raw materials, and Bordeaux liquid mixed with copper sulfate and lime water, but these are mainly used for cash crops such as fruit trees and grapes.

For grain and other crops, natural pesticides such as lime, tobacco, pine resin, pyrethrum, and fish vine are still used, but these pesticides are difficult to use on a large scale because of low yield and poor insecticidal effect. Therefore, even at the beginning of the twentieth century, European grain crops still needed to be plagued by pests and diseases, resulting in the current European grain production is not too high.

Led by Professor Bourvin, Eder visited his small chemistry institute, which was formed by two small three-story buildings and a piece of farmland used as a test field.

During the visit, Edel saw that the neatly arranged test tubes and the well-organized experimenters were the results that Borgin had let himself see. However, the stains that appear on the ground from time to time also show that their research also has a certain degree of danger. Edel stopped as he walked to a room with large glass to see through. He asked, pointing to the two masked staff members who were busy in the room. "What is this?"

Boulvin explained when he saw the king's inquiry. "This is our chlorine extraction room, and because there is a risk of gas leakage, they put on gas masks that I designed."

Looking at the somewhat familiar gas mask, Eder suddenly asked the reason for it. "What inspired the professor to design such a unique mask?"

Hearing the king's inquiry, Professor Boulvin said with some embarrassment. "Previously, we used lab equipment to produce chlorine, but it didn't occur that there was not enough chlorine to be produced, so I redesigned a chlorine production facility. It's just that the lack of experience has led to the danger of a slight leak in the equipment I designed. ”

Saying this, Professor Bolvin touched the back of his head a little embarrassed and continued. "I couldn't redesign one because of the budget, so I had to use it just for that, but I did have a protective measure for the people working inside, and they wore masks that would keep the gas leaking safe for an hour. And it's very simple, only rubber and activated carbon are needed to use, and after completion, they only need to replace the activated carbon and continue to use it. ”

Hearing Professor Boulvin's words, Edel asked, puzzled. "Isn't 1 million lei a year enough?"

In response to Eder's inquiry, Professor Bolvin said shyly. "Your Majesty, this kind of funding will never be possible, and it will cost a lot of money to carry out personnel, operate experiments, and purchase equipment and materials. For example, the cost of this reverie chlorine extraction equipment is 470,000 lei, and many of the precision parts need to be purchased from other countries. ”

In response to Professor Bourvin's words, Edel casually spoke to one of the attendants behind him. "After returning home, the cost of funding for the professor will be raised to 2 million lei, and by the way, an emergency fund of 500,000 lei will be prepared for the professor to help them replace this dangerous equipment for extracting chlorine. I don't want to lose anything as a Romanian treasurer. ”

Hearing that Eder had directly doubled the cost and provided 500,000 lei for the replacement of equipment, Professor Boulvin hurriedly thanked him. "Thank you very much Your Majesty for your support of our Institute. We will definitely serve Romania better and develop organic synthetic pesticides that can be used in crops as soon as possible. ”

Edel looked at the carrot and gave it, and now he needed to tell Professor Boulvin about the main reason for looking for him, so he spoke to the entourage behind him. "You don't have to follow, I have something to talk about with the professor."

Professor Bolvin is not a person who does not understand human accidents, even if he did not understand it before, he has learned it after a few years as the director of the institute. So he spoke immediately. "It's my office in front, Your Majesty, let's go there to discuss."

"Professor, please lead the way."

After entering the office, Edel recounted the poison gas warfare that was now taking place in the European theater, and Professor Bourwin, who was in the audience, listened to it until he did not change his face. "When I was doing experiments with Haber before, he had this idea in mind. It's just that I didn't expect it to be used in the war so soon, and seeing that my old friend is still very capable. ”

After evaluating his former colleagues, he asked Eder about it. "Your Majesty, do you want our institute to develop this chlorine gas as well?"

In the face of Professor Bourvin's inquiry, Edel said unabashedly. "Yes, professor, I took a look at your research institute for chlorine gas research is very deep, I hope you can industrialize the production of chlorine gas, in fact, I hope you can industrialize mustard gas, I heard that this gas is more harmful to the human body, we don't need to use it, but we can't do without the means to fight back."

In Eder's few memories, chlorine seems to have been used in the early days of World War I, while mustard gas has been used until later generations, among which the famous sarin gas incident in Japan has helped him deepen his impression a lot. For this reason, he also checked on the Internet, only to find out the name mustard gas, and he has long forgotten how sarin is made.

According to the information he checked, mustard gas was synthesized by the German chemist Meyer in 1886. Moreover, after the poison gas war, he also asked the chief of the guard to look for information on mustard gas, which was also found. So he planned to have Professor Boulvin, who had experience in synthetic chemicals, to lead the project for the production of poison gas, and the production of chlorine was also brought to the table just in case.

After listening to Eder's request, Professor Boulvin replied without thinking. "That's fine, but I need to be funded."

In response to Professor Boulvin's request, Edel said magnanimously. "No problem, I'll let someone take care of it, as long as it's the equipment you need, I'll let people buy it. Can you tell us how long it will take, though? ”

Professor Boulvin replied confidently. "In no more than two years, I will industrialize mustard gas, and three months of chlorine gas is enough."

Hearing Professor Boulvin's words, Edel smiled at him. "Thank you Professor for your contribution to Romania, and the people will not forget your credit."

"That's what I'm supposed to do."