Li Zhi smiled: "These are just ancillary products, and the really powerful things are upstairs." ”

Li Zhi took Cai Huaishui to the upper floor, and after waiting for a while, he saw that a transparent and reddened liquid was gradually dripping down the pipe. The liquid had a pungent smell, but it didn't smell like the asphalt.

Li Zhi smiled: "This is called diesel." ”

Cai Huaishui asked, "What is diesel?" ”

"The so-called diesel is a kind of heavy-duty fuel oil, which is relatively viscous and has a high energy density."

"What is fuel oil?"

Li Zhi laughed and said, "Fuel oil is the oil used to burn." Don't look at this diesel as inconspicuous, it burns up extremely high calories, and the heat provided by a unit weight of diesel fuel is about 1.5 times that of coal. If we use this fuel oil to drive our tanks, we will be able to fill the tank with less fuel, and the weight of the tank will be reduced considerably. “

Cai Huaishui nodded, looked at the pungent diesel, and asked, "Lord Wang, could it be that this is the main product of this oil refinery." ”

Li Zhi pointed upstairs and said, "Above, let's continue to walk up." “

Walking to the fourth floor, the two saw that some liquid had begun to leak out of the pipes there.

The table next to it had already prepared the equipment. Li Zhi filled a small bottle with some liquid, inserted a strip of cotton cloth into the liquid, and lit the strip of cotton cloth with a fire sickle.

"It's called kerosene. It's a good oil for lighting. Although we have started to use electric lights in big cities, the vast rural areas still have no electricity for the time being, and we still use tung oil lamps. As a vegetable oil, the price of tung oil is very high. And the kerosene extracted from this oil can completely replace tung oil. “

"He has great financial benefits, and the people who were originally willing to light only one tung oil lamp in their family can now light a kerosene lamp in every room of their home."

Cai Huaishui clasped his hands and said: "This fierce fire oil chirped out as soon as it was dug from the ground, and the price was indeed much lower than that of tung oil." It's a good thing to be economical and practical. “

Li Zhi smiled: "Let's go upstairs, the most powerful thing is on the fifth floor." “

The two walked directly to the fifth floor, waited for a while, and saw that liquid was flowing from the pipes on the fifth floor.

"Lord Wang, what is the most powerful thing?"

Li Zhi smiled: "This is gasoline, with gasoline, we can make internal combustion engines." “

"After a while, when our machine tools are a little bit higher, we will be able to produce internal combustion engines at the level of the mid-nineteenth century. Internal combustion engines use gasoline as an energy source, and the machine is lighter, fast, and more efficient, making it suitable for driving small machinery. ”

"Our tanks will be powered by internal combustion engines in the future, and their dead weight will be greatly reduced, and the speed of advance will be faster. Today's steam tanks can only travel three kilometers per hour, and in the future they can at least double their speed. ”

Cai Huaishui asked in surprise: "So, the internal combustion engine is a more advanced machine than the steam engine?" “

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Of course!" But we can't produce it yet. This gasoline is stored first, and then the internal combustion engine is mass-produced, and we can use it directly. “

Cai Huaishui looked down from the guardrail on the fifth floor and said, "Lord Wang, after your refining, this fierce fire oil has conjured so many treasures. This oil refining industry is bound to be a profitable industry. Are we going to hurry up and build more refineries to produce all kinds of products in large quantities? “

Li Zhi patted the guardrail and said, "I don't want to organize state-owned enterprises in this refinery, so let's hand it over to private production." “

"The refinery is actually high-temperature fractionation, and the production process is very simple. If we want to keep this simple process secret for a long time, the cost of confidentiality is very high. Moreover, the state-owned enterprises under our Ministry of Industry are too large, and the larger the enterprises, the higher the management costs, and the gains outweigh the losses. ”

"It's better to set up a royalty and let private companies join in for large-scale production. Products such as asphalt, lubricating oil, and kerosene are urgently needed by the market, and private enterprises can immediately achieve results when they invest, and this industry can also help us cultivate a group of qualified entrepreneurs. “

Cai Huaishui hugged his chest and said: "There are many entrepreneurs, which may not be a good thing. “

Li Zhi said: "If there are more entrepreneurs, the market in our towns and nine provinces will be more active, and the efficiency of industry and commerce will be higher. “

Cai Huaishui said: "If this entrepreneur is too rich and powerful, he will naturally think about seeking an official position, and even want to evade taxes like the gentry in Jiangnan." So I don't think that's necessarily a good thing. “

Li Zhi looked at Cai Huaishui and said with a smile: "This is not a big problem, what we value most in one town and nine provinces is military merit." The military aristocracy we promoted has guns in their hands, and it is still easy to suppress these entrepreneurs. ”

Cai Huaishui arched his hand and said: "The prince has his own plans, but his subordinates are worried. “

Li Zhi nodded and said: "Our one town and nine provinces follow the Prussian road, and entrepreneurs are just the lubricant of society, and it is impossible for them to become our ruling class. ”

Cai Huaishui was stunned when he heard the three words Prussian, pondered for a while and seemed to think that he had seen these three words somewhere, and finally said: "The prince is wise!" “

####

In the arsenal, Cao Yu excitedly handed over a brand-new Jinwang-style rifle to Li Zhi.

"Lord Wang, we have realized the full mechanical production of the Jinwang rifle, and all the key parts are mass-produced using machine tools."

Li Zhi took the rifle and opened the shot.

The shot was filled with castor oil, and Li Zhi pulled it back and forth twice, feeling that it was very smooth.

Of course, castor oil is not a qualified lubricant. Now that there are oil refineries, the lubrication of rifles and gunshots will have to use the lubricating oil fractionated in petroleum.

Li Zhi walked to the small shooting range outside the arsenal, took a paper shell bullet from Cao Yu's hand, and loaded the bullet into the rifle. He aimed at a target fifty meters away and was about to shoot, but was stopped by Zhang Yu, the company commander next to him.

"Lord Wang, if the air leaks and burns the prince's face, it will be bad, I'll test shoot!"

Li Zhi nodded and handed the rifle to Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu raised his rifle and shot a bullet with a snap.

The bullet hit the target. To the surprise of both Zhang Yu and Li Zhi, there was not much gas leaking from the machine-produced Jinwang-style rifle.

Zhang Yu looked the rifle left and right, and said, "This is better than hand-made." ”

Cao Yu laughed and said: "Of course, as long as the accuracy of mechanized production is achieved, the deviation of production is less than that of manual work!" ”

His eyes lit up and he said, "Lord Wang, we can immediately start mass production of the Jinwang-style rifle now, and within a year, we can have one in the hands of the Tiger Ben soldiers." ”