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What's going on here?

Since October, as a member of the Governor's Guard, Zhang Yang has noticed that the Governor's Mansion has begun to be busy, to be precise, the craftsmen in the Governor's Mansion are lined with black lines, not only every room of the Governor's Palace, but also the black railway lamps inlaid on the wall. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

However, he did not know what it was doing, and in fact few people knew, and even more good things were reported, and the Doge seemed to be preparing to install telegraphs in every room.

For Zhang Yang, who used to be on duty in the telegraph room, he naturally knew that this was just a joke, and it was simply impossible.

But if that's the case, why install these lines?

Again, he looked at the door of the Governor's Mansion, what was that person doing? It seems to be putting something in the light box.

Exactly two months!

In the past two months, with the efforts of more than a dozen craftsmen, the Wuchang Governor's Mansion and several nearby official offices and the streets near the official halls have been lined with wires, because the copper wires needed are all drawn by the Hanyang Arsenal, and the telegraph lines need wires, so the laying of wires is not fast.

It was not until the twentieth day of the lunar month that the wires were finally laid, and after the wires were laid, the craftsmen under the command of Huang Tao put the delicate glass bulbs into the wooden lamp heads, as the manager of the electric light company, he is now the youngest "manager" in the whole Wuchang, he knows what it means to complete the current job.

2867 electric lights!

This is the number of light bulbs installed by the Electric Light Company in various government offices in the past two months, and the installation has finally been completed today.

After screwing the last light bulb with his own hands, Huang Tao deliberately looked at the electric lamp, which was the street lamp in front of the governor's mansion, he walked down the ladder, no one could understand why he seemed a little excited, and even when he walked towards the governor's mansion, he would be a little excited to say to the guards.

"It's a big day!"

Yes, today is indeed a big day, today is the day when the electric lights are put into use, but he did not report to the public, and even the reporters in the newspaper office did not know what day it was.

December 1, 1854!

Huang Tao silently wrote down this day, and walked through the governor's mansion to the backyard, where Han Du was instructing others to conduct experiments, which were chemical extraction experiments, which seemed to be extracting a substance.

"Pressurize, record the pressure ......"

In his own laboratory, Zhu Yifeng instructed the tester that the ongoing test in the chemical laboratory is to extract glutamate, that is, monosodium glutamate, and the reason why monosodium glutamate is extracted is because of the needs of the canning factory.

Monosodium glutamate!

MSG will not be invented by the Japanese until more than half a century later, and once it is invented, it is welcomed by the market, and more importantly, by the food processing industry.

The extraction process of monosodium glutamate is not complicated, and now Zhu Yifeng's experiment is according to the method mentioned in the books he has read, because in wheat bran (gluten), the content of glutamate can reach 40%, so you can first use 34% hydrochloric acid to pressurize the gluten to obtain a black hydrolysate, which is decolorized by activated carbon and concentrated in a vacuum to obtain white crystalline glutamic acid.

This method is simple and quick, but there are some technical problems that need to be solved during the extraction process, after all, this is only theoretical, but at least some glutamic acid has been produced, although its purity is limited, but it has proved to be feasible, and now only further testing is needed to put it into production soon.

"Huang Tao, you're here!"

Seeing Huang Tao, Zhu Yifeng immediately smiled.

"How? Are they all installed? ”

In the past, Huang Tao has been in charge of the production and installation of electric lights, and now he has come here, naturally to report the matter to himself.

"Back to Handu, all 2,867 light bulbs have been installed, as long as you agree, you can put them into use tonight!"

As Huang Tao spoke, his eyes involuntarily looked towards the electric lights hanging in the house.

"Well, how much does the light cost now?"

Compared with others, Zhu Yifeng is more concerned about the cost of electric lights.

"The first batch of bulbs cost about one silver dollar each, and the expected price is 1.7 silver dollars, and I estimate that in order to compete with existing lighting methods such as oil lamps and gas lamps, these bulbs must sell for no more than 0.5 silver dollars each."

"That is, the cost is a bit too high right now?"

"Back to Handu, the cost can be further reduced, the second batch of bulbs because of the skilled craftsmen, the loss has been reduced, the cost has dropped by 10%, further improve the process, it is expected to drop to 0.25 silver dollars in the next few years......"

Because after the New Year, the governor's government issued a document requiring that the settlement of all official offices must be changed to silver dollar units, and the "Han silver dollar" issued in the official silver number of the three provinces will also replace the silver tael, although some are not very adaptable, but Huang Tao still uses the silver dollar as a unit to report to the Han governor.

"Well, very good, when something new is first invented, the cost will always be a little higher, and it will come down slowly, how is its lifespan now? Has it improved? ”

"875 hours, there is still potential for further improvement, Han Du, there is a sentence, I don't know whether to say it or not."

"Huh?"

Raising his eyes to look at Huang Tao, Zhu Yifeng motioned for him to continue.

"Now the life span of 875 hours should be almost, in the opinion of students, there is no need to improve, after all, the longer the lifespan, the less people need for light bulbs?"

Huang Tao's words made Zhu Yifeng stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile.

"Huang Tao, you are wrong, although the extension of life means a decrease in demand, but the popularization of electric lights has not only not decreased, but greatly increased. You know why? ”

Zhu Yifeng, who walked out of the laboratory, pointed outside and said to Huang Tao, who seemed to be a little puzzled.

"Because the electric light is cheap, there will be thousands of households to use it, the more people who use it, the more its demand will be, and its price will be cheaper and cheaper, now it takes nearly two silver dollars to buy a lamp, but a few years later, maybe two silver dollars can buy a dozen, when the time comes, the bulb will naturally enter thousands of households, by that time, the whole of China may need billions, tens of billions of light bulbs a year......"

Looking back at Huang Tao, Zhu Yifeng said with some excitement.

"Because, today, we are opening the door to a new era!"

Indeed, this is the gate of a new era, the gate of the age of electricity, and the door of this era is opened because of electric lights, and humanity will overcome darkness for the first time, and itself will bring light to the world. In a fit of pride, Zhu Yifeng looked towards another laboratory, where there was an electrolyzer, where several kilograms of electrolytic aluminum had been produced in the past few days, and now the arsenal was producing new electrolyzers, and in a few months, the secret factory of the Governor's Mansion would supply dozens of kilograms of aluminum every day.

The price is higher than that of gold aluminum!

Of course, all this will have to wait until after this year's World's Fair of the Third Emperor, and in a few months the world will see the Emperor's praise of aluminum, a rare metal, at the banquet of the French Emperor Napoleon III, where only members of the royal family and guests of the nobility were honored to dine with aluminum spoons and forks, while lower-ranking guests could only use ordinary gold and silver cutlery. In order to show his wealth and dignity, Napoleon III also made him a crown more expensive than the gold crown - the aluminum crown, and it was from today that aluminum became a "noble metal" as a precious metal in the laboratory, and it was not until thirty years later that the invention of electrolytic aluminum fundamentally destroyed the aristocratic status of aluminum.

But now, Paris is about to lead the fashion, about to bring aluminum from the laboratory into the ranks of luxury, and their goal is not too big, just want to take advantage of this east wind, sell so many tons of aluminum every year, in exchange for ten tons of eight tons of gold, of course, it doesn't matter if there is more, the water flows slowly, and now aluminum is really not much use except for some gold.

And gold ...... No matter how much it is, I don't think it's too much!

"Huang Tao, you prepare,"

Thinking of the World Expo five months later, Zhu Yifeng looked at Huang Tao and said.

"Bring the lights and wires that were originally used in the factory to Paris!"

Bringing to Paris?

Looking at Han Du in surprise, Huang Tao didn't quite understand Han Du's thoughts. The company did have more than 10,000 light bulbs left, and even two generators, but they were for the Hanyang Arsenal and other factories to be installed.

"You went to France in person, not only to bring electric lights to Paris, but also to help them build a power station, although it is a little late now, but if you hurry up, you should be able to catch up, I am going to give this as a gift to the French emperor!"

Give the electric light to the Emperor of France!

That's right, is there a more suitable sales channel than that? Zhu Yifeng can be said to know very well about the "little three" through the history books, he is so happy and likes new things, since he can make an aluminum crown for himself, and bring the laboratory metal of aluminum into the ranks of luxury, then he can bring electric lights to Europe and the world.

Compared with "aluminum", as an industrial product of electric light is the real king, perhaps renting the secret sale of aluminum, can make a profit of more than ten tons of gold per year, but electric lights can bring tens of millions of income to China, and help themselves to open the door of the second industrial revolution, in the future electric motor, internal combustion engine, will be born in China, to be precise, is born in this experiment......

And more importantly, this gift was precious to Napoleon III, and there were some issues that I needed his support in exchange for electric lights...... It's a good deal! (To be continued.) )