The production of potassium nitrate has made both the military industry and the agricultural sector happy.

The military industry rejoiced that they finally had the hope of being able to produce their own gunpowder. To be honest, between potassium nitrate and sulfur, sulfur is easy to import, and potassium nitrate is difficult to get. The main reason is that the production of nitrate in Europe is already limited, and almost all of this limited output is used to make gunpowder. Now with potassium nitrate, the military industry only needs to send a ship to Chile or Peru to pull a ship of sulfur back - there is a lot of this thing, there are many such natural sulfur on the craters of Chile and the Colón Islands (volcanic islands) in Peru, and a few hundred tons at a time to make gunpowder is enough for the navy and army on the east coast for a long time.

In addition to the rejoicing of the military industry, the agricultural sector is also very happy. For no other reason, it is because potassium nitrate is also a rare compound fertilizer (containing nitrogen and potassium at the same time), which has an immeasurable effect on plant growth. So, when the Northern Gunpowder Factory first produced nitrate, the Minister of Agriculture, Kinkola, was the only senior official at the level of a member of the Central Committee who was present – he came to see his future fertilizer.

On January 3, 1639, when the craftsmen and workers of the nitrate workshop placed the pure white crystals in front of everyone, Jinkora was the first to run up and take a closer look.

"Minister Jin, harvest 300 kilograms of pure potassium nitrate per mu of nitrate." Zhang Zecheng, a former middle school chemistry teacher, said triumphantly, "The weather will soon become hotter, and the nitrate field will enter a rapid production period, and the nitrate soil can be scraped once every half a month, and the yield per mu will also increase." Converted, the annual output of these ten acres of nitrate fields is expected to reach 80-90 tons, and if you are lucky, you can reach hundreds of tons. This is the power of science. ”

Behind him were two Ming Dynasty artisan immigrants who stood respectfully. At this time, the two gray former craftsmen were carrying a money bag in their hands. There was three hundred dollars in cash in the money bag. This is a reward for their contribution to the method of making nitrate. In fact, to be honest, the method they originally proposed to make nitrate was very primitive and crude, and if they really collected nitrate according to their method, the efficiency would be frighteningly low. Fortunately, some chemistry teachers in the crowd understood the principle of the formation of these nitrates and the role of nitric acid bacteria in the soil, so they made significant improvements to their methods, which greatly increased the yield and speed of potassium nitrate.

"Less than 100 tons a year?" Jinkora was a little anxious when she heard this, "How can this be done?!" 100 tons of potassium nitrate can also make 120 tons of black powder. This output is enough to maintain the normal training of the navy and army and the artillery of the battery, right? This can't be done! To increase production! I'm still waiting to pull some potassium nitrate back to use as fertilizer. ”

After listening to Jin Kola's words, several heads of the chemical department immediately looked at each other, and finally Zhang Zecheng came forward to ask: "Minister Jin, didn't you mention that you wanted to use it as fertilizer when you first made nitrate?" Our factory produces gunpowder, not chemical fertilizer. ”

"Of course I know." Jinkola waved her hand impatiently and said, "You don't know how expensive firewood and rice are. At present, the total area of cultivated land in China has just reached 31,000 mu, of which Dongfang County has 10,000 mu of wheat, 3,000 mu of potatoes and 6,000 mu of soybeans; Ping'an County has 5,000 acres of rice; There are 5,000 acres of sorghum and 2,000 acres of wheat on the other side of the river fort. Based on last year's grain output, if there are no major natural disasters this year, about 7,500 tons of various types of grain will be harvested, nearly half of which will be potatoes. But do you calculate how much food we consume each year? ”

"How much?" Zhang Zecheng asked a little stupidly.

"After the arrival of thousands of new people, the total population of our country has exceeded 30,000 after a historic time." Jinkora waved her right hand, and her voice was agitated: "Thirty thousand." According to the calculation of eating two catties of grain per person per day, 30 tons of grain will be consumed in one day. That's more than 10,000 tons a year, how big is the food shortage? ”

"I'll it! Haven't we eradicated the threat of hunger for several years? Two years ago, I remember that I was still exporting grain to earn foreign exchange. Zhang Zecheng was a little stupid, "How long has it been since we had enough food to eat?" ”

Hearing the food gap calculated by Jin Kela, Song Qiang, one of the people in charge of the chemical industry who had been standing aside without speaking, also asked in a tone full of questions: "Minister Jin, why did the food gap become so big all of a sudden?" Aren't the river forts and the mainland still making wine from grain? If there is not enough food, how can people be allowed to use it to make wine? ”

Jinkola's face turned red, and he did feel a little embarrassed to deceive the two chemical "otaku". In fact, due to the production of a large amount of fish and shrimp in the east coast area, coupled with the cheap beef imported from La Plata from time to time, as well as a large number of beef cattle, pigs, goats, and poultry raised by the Animal Husbandry Bureau and the farmers themselves, the people on the east coast do not consume two catties of grain every day, and they may only eat a little more than one catty.

However, after being a high-ranking official for so many years, Jin Cora quickly adjusted his emotions and said with a straight face: "You guys, you really don't listen to things outside the window, and you only know how to do research all day long. Don't you look at it, in the past two or three months, how many people have suddenly increased in the country? More than 2,000 French immigrants, more than 500 pirates, more than 1,000 Ming immigrants, more than 800 French children, and hundreds of indigenous Indians who had just been incorporated into the country's rule, which is a population of 5,000! 5,000 people, 20% of the original 25,000 people! With five thousand mouths at once, how much grain will this eat? And now many of the high-yielding areas where potatoes were grown have been converted to low-yield areas where wheat is grown, which further reduces grain production. ”

"And, as you said, domestic winemaking is now a trend." Speaking of which, Jinkora really gritted his teeth, he himself did not drink a drop of alcohol, so he especially hated those who took precious grain to make wine, "Those people are also hateful, and they have spoiled all the good grain!" Especially in Hezhong Fort, relying on the high mountain and the emperor far away, he made wine to the death, and the sorghum rice that was good turned into alcohol! It's understandable that the navy of spirits is in high demand, but those who make wine purely for the sake of satisfying their appetites cannot be forgiven! I must find a way to suppress this crooked trend! ”

The two chemical otaku automatically filtered some of Jin Kola's words, and then met and calculated hard, feeling that according to Jin Kora's situation, next year's food is really not enough to eat, no wonder he wants to use the idea of fertilizer.

"Minister Kim, I see what you mean." Zhang Zecheng nodded, and then asked, "How much fertilizer does your agricultural department need every year?" First of all, there is only potassium nitrate here, and nothing else. ”

"I don't want more, give me 60 kilograms of potassium nitrate per mu of wheat field, supplemented by some struvite stones, I can increase the current wheat yield to more than 400 catties." Kim Kola said after a little calculation.

However, his number obviously frightened the heads of the two chemistry groups in front of him.

"60 kilograms per mu?" Zhang Zecheng muttered: "Dongfang County alone has a whole 10,000 acres of wheat fields, which requires 600 tons. Coupled with the other miscellaneous fields, we have to produce more than 1,000 tons of potassium nitrate a year to squander it. More than 1,000 tons, how much nitrate will it take to satisfy your appetite? 1000 acres? Or 2000 acres? I'll it! ”

"No way." Jin Cola spread his hands and said helplessly: "We don't have many people engaged in agricultural production now, and even if I want to cultivate more land, I can't find enough manpower." Who called our country's economy so deformed, all for the sake of industrial development, to see how far our primary industry has been squeezed? So, I'm coming to you today, don't think I'm here to trouble you, it's true that the situation is very serious now. There is so much arable land, and we still have to feed this large number of people, and it is absolutely impossible to find a way to increase grain yields. ”

"We can understand you, but the amount of potassium nitrate you need is too large for us to make it possible." Zhang Zecheng explained, "If nothing else, even if we open up a 2,000-acre nitrate field, where can we find so many human and animal feces and animal carcasses?" Without these things, it is difficult to make nitrate. And, if my guess is correct, agriculture also requires a lot of human and animal manure to be applied to the field as a base fertilizer, right? Again, this is a big chunk. Now there are less than 3,000 sheep, more than 900 cattle, 700 military horses, and more than 500 pigs on the domestic side, oh, by the way, plus 30,000 people, how much manure is produced every day? And how much is it consumed? ”

"What you said makes sense, but let's start with the scale of a thousand acres of nitrate. I will report this matter to the Executive Committee when I go back, and strive to let the above transfer more manpower and funds to you, and simply build a large pig farm here, which can produce both meat and manure, which is really a double win. In this way, you can expand the scale of the nitrate field as soon as possible and produce more potassium nitrate. "Also, after a winter, it's time to clean up the public toilets in the towns and villages in the country." When I go back, I will organize people to go to these places to dig up manure and gather them all together, and some of them will be used as fertilizer for the fields, and some of them will be transported to the nitrate fields here for use. Rub, it's all good stuff! We have to organize people to dig it out quickly! ”

Zhang Zecheng and Song Qiang felt a chill when they saw that Jin Cora had a soft spot for the feces in those public toilets, which was too much. Others say that people in the chemical department are perverts, but now looking at the degree of obsession with feces, Zhang and Song suddenly knelt down.

On January 10, just a week after leaving the gunpowder factory, Jinkola sent more than 300 Khoisan people to Jushu Village, Ping'an Township. They were accompanied by two boatloads of foul-smelling manure and a team of construction workers who had been brought in for the nitrate fields and the construction team to build the nitrate fields and pig farms.

Jinkora really fulfilled his promise, and it seems that he is determined to fix the fertilizer. Zhang Zecheng shook his head: Love it, let's do it, anyway, the scale of the nitrate field is large, and Lao Tzu's face is also bright, so let's do it. (To be continued......)