The impact of the large output of potassium nitrate on the East Coast Republic was far-reaching. Because this substance can be heated and decomposed to produce nitrogen oxides, and these nitrogen oxides can react with sulfur dioxide (obtained by burning sulfur) and water to produce sulfuric acid, which is the predecessor and main principle of sulfuric acid prepared by lead chamber method.

By the same principle, these nitrogen oxides (mainly nitrogen dioxide) can be soluble in water and react with water to form nitric acid. After having sulfuric acid, it can react with salt to produce hydrochloric acid and soda ash; With soda ash, caustic soda can be produced; With nitric acid, nitrocellulose can be made (this is more difficult); Etcetera......

A kind of potassium nitrate that can be produced on a large scale can make so many important basic chemical products, which has to make people sigh that chemistry is so wonderful. Of course, the above methods for preparing various three acids and two alkalis have only been successful under laboratory conditions, and there is no precedent for large-scale industrial production, and the Executive Committee needs to invest a lot of money and manpower in the design and research of production processes.

Considering the limited manpower and material resources of the East Coast Republic of China, as well as the many other projects that are underway, the funds that can be allocated to the chemical industry are bound to be limited, so the process of industrial production of three acids and two alkalis is bound to be very long. Moreover, judging from the limited industrial categories of the East Coast Republic at this stage, at most there is a lot of demand for soda ash (papermaking, leather processing, and dye needs), and the demand for several other products is really limited, so there is no such strong impulse to build a three-acid and two-alkali production line.

……

Just when local industry and agriculture were booming, on January 15, Guo Zili, who had just returned to his homeland not long ago, quickly received a reply from the Executive Committee and the Military Department. Prior to this, he had submitted a warning report on the risk of establishing a colony in the Antsiranana region of Madagascar Island. It has received the attention of the Executive Committee and the Military Department. After a period of discussion. I think his advice and warnings are very pertinent. The Executive Committee had therefore decided to suspend the establishment of a colony there until the medical sector was able to provide sufficient anti-malarial drugs.

In addition to the reply from the Executive Committee, Guo Zili also received a reply from the Military Department. The military department's reply was rather vague and ambiguous, neither saying yes nor no, but Guo Zili still understood the military department's intentions at once. The reply should have been written by the Minister of the Navy, Wang Qinian, who was suggesting that Guo Zili could capture a large number of indigenous people in South Africa to develop in the Antsirana area, so as to reduce the excessive mortality rate of people on the east coast that might be caused by development.

Guo Zili sighed and put both replies into his bag. In fact. In his heart, he was opposed to the hasty colonization of the Anziranana region at this stage, but the leaders above were so happy that they could not help but express that, alas, let's see when the time comes, and take one step at a time. However, regardless of whether this colony is carried out or not, the route to the Ottoman Empire must be explored, and only the section to Mozambique Island has been completed, and there is still a considerable part of the voyage to be completed, and this matter still has to be led by Guo Zili.

Guo Zili's Spanish wife brought him a brand new summer naval officer's uniform. And looked at him with resentful eyes. yes, just came back from a few months of wandering at sea. I haven't rested for half a month, and I'm about to set off again, so no one is happy about it.

Guo Zili gave his wife an affectionate hug, kissed his little children, and then turned over and rode on the war horse pulled by the guards, wearing the morning glow rising on the eastern horizon, and headed towards the dock of Dingyuanbao.

Dingyuanbao Wharf has long opened regular flights to the northern city of Oriental Port. There are two trips a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and at this moment Guo Zili and his guards are taking this flight in the morning.

It was about eight o'clock in the morning, and there were a dozen or so residents standing on the dock who were ready to take a boat. Most of these people are farmers in the neighborhood, some of them are visiting relatives in the county seat, some are going shopping, and some are selling their products. After these people saw Guo Zili and the two of them coming, they all looked at them with envy, especially after seeing the rank of lieutenant on Guo Zili's shoulder, their eyes were mixed with a trace of awe.

Nowadays, the status of military personnel at the grassroots level is getting higher and higher, and their income is not only higher than that of the peasants who cultivate the land, but even not much worse than that of those factory technicians. Many of the officers' incomes were no worse than those of the small workshop owners, and their social status and influence were far superior to theirs, and the grassroots voice in many villages was often in the hands of the military.

A small steamer smacked black smoke and white vapor as it approached. Guo Zili was not surprised at all, this is a 10-horsepower small river steamer that has just been trial-produced by the Ministry of Communications and a machine factory. The ship is not large, and there is a paddle wheel on each side of the ship, so it is called a ship. The ship was powered by a 10-horsepower steam engine and was extremely fast when it was tested in the relatively stationary Dayu Lake.

From Dingyuanbao Wharf to the county seat, the short voyage of less than 20 kilometers can be completed in less than two hours, which is more than twice as fast as that of a sailboat. What is even more commendable is that this kind of ship not only requires a small number of sailors, but also does not need to consider the influence of wind direction like sailing ships, and can basically maintain a certain speed in different seasons and different wind directions. As far as inland waterway shipping is concerned, the superiority of steamships almost completely surpasses those shallow inland water transport vessels that were widely used before.

Many of the rivers on the east bank flow very slowly, especially the newly dug canals. If the wind is not in the right direction, many times the ship will not be able to pass at all, and sometimes it will even take a slender fiber to pass. The appearance of the steamship solved this problem perfectly, and this kind of ship powered by the current did not have to look at the direction of the wind at all, and perhaps its only enemy was itself - its own flawed steam boiler and paddle wheel blades of questionable quality.

"It's a ship again!" Guo Zili's guard Falcao sighed in disappointment, and muttered: "This kind of ship is very unreliable, and the crew members are very poorly maintained, and there are two breakdowns in three days, I hope there will be no problems during today's two-hour voyage." ”

Guo Zili patted his head amusefully and said, "Go and store the horse, hurry up, I'll wait for you on the boat." After speaking, Guo Zili took his briefcase and stepped onto the paddle steamer leaning against the trestle.

There is a large gap between the paddle steamer and the pier, which is paved with wooden planks and dangles, and those who walk by must be very careful not to fall into the water. This is also a disadvantage of the paddle steamer, which is installed on the outside, and it is easy to bump into something, which can lead to damage to the paddle wheel. I heard that the Ministry of Communications and a group of people from the Shipping Institute are studying whether to replace the paddle wheel with propeller blades, but it is clear that the processing of propeller blades is a big challenge for the people of the East Coast.

In the case of the few machine tools of various types with primitive design and extremely poor accuracy currently owned by the Republic of the Eastern Coast, it is really very problematic to produce a qualified marine propeller. Even if it is barely processed, it will take a lot of energy to grind and cut it in the later stage, and there is no feasibility of large-scale industrial production at all. For the dozens or hundreds of inland waterway ships that traverse the waters of the country, the inability to produce on a large scale means extremely high costs, and this has basically pronounced the death sentence of this technique.

However, how could the traversing crowd who knew that the Minglun Technique and the Ring Technique were finally eliminated allow the propeller technique to be buried. They are currently repeatedly looking for other ways to process propellers, such as casting a rough blank with a mold at a time, and then grinding; For example, simply use a large hydraulic press to slowly knock out the propeller blades, and so on. In short, this technique has to be done slowly, and there is no hurry. As for the current stage, these ships should use bulky paddle wheels first.

After a dozen passengers boarded the boat, workers on the dock carried more than a dozen barrels of fish products into the cabin, filling the whole ship with a strong fishy smell. After years of over-exploitation, the fishery resources of Dayu Lake have shown a clear trend of depletion, and the monthly catch of fish and shrimp has not only gradually decreased, but also has become much worse than before. Discovering this situation, the Dingyuan Township Government urgently stopped all fishing activities of the fishing team in Dayu Lake, gave Dayu Lake time to recuperate, and also began to study and popularize the technology of cage fish and shrimp farming.

The dozen or so barrels of fresh prawns in the cabin in front of me were raised by the fishing team in cages in the big fish lake, and now they are to be transported to the county seat of Dongfang Port by steam express for sale.

After seeing that no one was on the boat anymore, the staff on the dock pulled the small door of the entrance and exit, and then waved the flag in their hands a few times. Seeing this, the ship's pilot began to order the boiler room to be slowly pressurized, and the black smoke coming out of the ship's chimney suddenly thickened.

Guo Zili stood on the deck, the black soot falling on his light blue military uniform, blowing a puff of escaping water vapor in front of him, blowing his hair wet.

"The coal ash is relatively large, and the quality of this coal is still not good after all." Guo Zili said to himself, "The coal in Ping'an Coal Mine is said to have a very low combustion value, and it also contains a lot of impurities and dust, so it is not suitable for thermal coal after all." I wonder if I want to develop South Africa's coal in the future? ”

The steamer finally started with a clatter after the boiler was pressurized for a while. The paddlewheel blades on both sides of the ship also began to rotate slowly, rattling the current, and the reaction force of the water drove the ship forward. (To be continued......)