"Bell bell bell ......"

"Bell bell bell ......"

On the streets in late autumn, the withered yellow leaves are sprinkled all over the ground.

As soon as Cheng Nuo explained the general outline of the "Hou's alkali making method", Fan Xudong deduced the process in his mind, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was possible, and he excitedly pulled Cheng Nuo to do chemical experiments.

It's a pity that some of the raw materials are not available in the small earthen house, and if you want to make the alkali completely, you still have to go to the factory and use professional equipment.

So Cheng Nuo, who had just come to the small earth house not long ago, was dragged by Lian and sent to the Jiuda Salt Factory.

"Bell bell bell ......"

With the crunch of feet stepping on fallen leaves, the crisp ringing sound came again.

Listening carefully, this is not the ringing of a bell, but the ringing of a series of bells, which inevitably reminds Cheng Nuo of the countryside in his previous life, the merchant who traveled south and north to sell, and the rattle was always shaking in front of the rack car.

Out of curiosity, coupled with the way, Cheng Nuo couldn't help but speed up the pace of his feet, ready to go over to find out.

It doesn't matter if you buy it or not, just see if there's anything in the car that brings back memories.

"Zhiyuan...... Otherwise, forget it. Hearing the bell, Fan Xudong's face on the side gradually became gloomy, and he unconsciously wanted to stop Cheng Nuo and prevent him from passing.

However, when he saw that Cheng Nuo had already taken a few steps towards the sound and went in the direction of the factory, he disbanded the words of admonition on his lips.

This made Cheng Nuo in front of him very puzzled, and turned around and said, "Xudong, what's wrong with you, are you not feeling well or what?" The face is so ugly, it was fine just now. ”

"Whew~" Fan Xudong took a long breath, collected his emotions and cheered up again: "It's okay, I just happened to remember some bad things just now, and after a while, it's much better now." ”

Obviously, there are some things that the other party does not want outsiders to know.

Cheng Nuo frowned and said: "If you don't want to say it, forget it, but since you are friends, as long as you are in need, I will definitely help if I can." ”

At this time, Fan Xudong suddenly showed a strange expression on his face: "You can help, and you have already helped." ”

Cheng Nuo was puzzled: "What's busy?" How did I not know? ”

Before Fan Xudong could answer, the bell suddenly rang again beside the two.

I don't know how long it will be, but the source of the sound has quietly approached.

At this time, Cheng Nuo suddenly found that there were still some shouts under the bell.

It's just that other hawkers are small things, and the owner of the bell sells "God".

"Merciful Lord, O O Blessed Virgin Mary......

"Bell bell bell ......"

"Bring down happiness and nectar!"

"Bell bell bell ......"

"Give China this hungry land!"

"Bell bell bell ...... Bell ......"

The ringing of the bell and the Chinese dialect with a foreign accent are intertwined, and people are reminded of those who bang gongs and shout in circles on the streets of China to sell large pills.

Cheng Nuoxin said that this is not missionary, as for such a big move? Could it be that Fan Xudong believes in other religions and can't see these things in his eyes?

But the next scene made Cheng Nuo dumbfounded.

This yellow-eyed gringo preached the story of the Gospel of Mark in front of everyone, what Christ was born, Christ's words and deeds, Christ's well-being, etc., and so on.

According to Cheng Nuo's assumption, after the atmosphere of the audience is created, it will definitely be time to preach, and it is time to move out any words such as believing in God and going to heaven after death.

Unexpectedly, the gringo directly closed the book, waved his hand to the entourage behind, and a porter carrying two baskets of things staggered forward.

Placing the basket in front of everyone, the gringo directly lifted the cloth covering it, revealing a full amount of alkaline noodles.

"God saw that you had no alkali for food and clothing, and that the days were too bitter, so he specially lowered two loads of sacred alkaline noodles for me to give to you."

When the potential believers heard this, they became even more fanatical.

You push me, I hold you.

If it weren't for the fact that the gringos had arranged guards in advance and surrounded them by a human wall, the two loads of alkaline noodles would have been washed away by the crowd.

"Don't worry, don't worry, everyone has a share, everyone has a share!"

"God said that you must see your piety, in your Chinese language, it is called incense, and with more incense, he can come down more alkaline noodles to reward everyone."

"In order to thank God, and in order to bring more alkaline noodles next time, each person needs to pay enough eight sons to use as incense money in order to receive a holy alkaline noodles from me."

"What, you don't have any money? I'm sorry, God says he doesn't give credit......"

After the operation, Cheng Nuo's jaw was about to fall to the ground.

This is a missionary, a businessman who sells dog meat on the head of a sheep, and his abacus is clanging.

Suddenly thinking of the weirdness on Fan Xudong's face just now, Cheng Nuo immediately reacted.

"Xudong, do you know that this guy is selling alkaline noodles under the guise of this?"

"Alas!" Fan Xudong let out a long sigh and walked around the crowd to leave here: "This person is British, named Li Lide in Chinese, dressed as a missionary on weekdays, and is actually the manager of the British Bneimon Company in China.

Usually he hires Chinese people to pick up foreign alkali, and uses the "Gospel of Mark" to attract pedestrians on the street, and when the people are almost there, he begins his business performance. ”

Sure enough, although separated from the crowd, Cheng Nuo could also know through his voice that Li Lide started his behavior show.

Standing tall, I observed that this guy first made noodles directly in public, and after adding alkaline noodles, he steamed small steamed buns directly in the pot, and it didn't take long for the steamed buns to be steamed and distributed to everyone to taste, all of which were sweet flour.

The most intuitive feeling for everyone is that it is far more than the local sour steamed buns.

In this way, with the dual blessing of spirit and material, the sales of alkaline noodles have become more popular.

In fact, it is no wonder that the people are so popular, but the local alkaline noodles are too scarce.

At that time, we Chinese ate trona, which was produced in Zhangjiakou and Gubeikou, commonly known as "mouth alkali". The practice of mouth alkali is extremely backward, and the alkalizing of natural soil into alkaline water, and then coagulation into a block is called completion.

The processing is poor, and there are so many impurities that it is like a piece of yellow mud.

Mouth alkali not only seriously affects the health of the people, but also cannot be used in industry at all.

It is no wonder that the British Bnementan alkali that accompanied the "Gospel of Mark" suddenly occupied the Chinese market.

Seeing such a scene of hot sales, Li Lide couldn't help but be presumptuous.

"Bell bell bell bell ......"

"Hahahaha......"

"O ignorant and barren land of the Far East, wait for the coming of God."

At this moment, Li Lide, who was standing on the high ground in the middle of the crowd, suddenly found Fan Xudong, an "old friend", and immediately opened the crowd and walked over from inside.

After being a little closer, Li Lide said sharply in a sharp voice: "Fan, I haven't seen you for a long time, last time you told me that you were going to set up a soda factory on this land of China, I don't know how you are going?" ”

Fan Xudong, who was about to leave this place with his head hooked, heard this, and his steps unconsciously paused.

Seeing this, Cheng Nuo thought that the other party was going to refute directly, so he stopped just to organize the language.

Unexpectedly, Fan Xudong paused for a few seconds, didn't dare to raise his head over there, and turned around to leave here.

If it was just now, Li Lide would still have a little insufficient confidence in saying that.

But now that I see that the other party is going to abandon the armor and run away, it is obviously a lack of confidence, and it is difficult to guess anything else, but the alkali must not have been made.

"Hahaha, Fan, why don't you buy some ready-made alkaline noodles from me, and go back to tell your people that you made it, and I believe you will definitely be able to get through this."

Hearing this, Fan Xudong couldn't hold back his temper anymore: "Mr. Li, we have an old saying in China, called feng shui takes turns, you better wait honestly, don't make any more moths, otherwise you will have good fruits to eat in the future." ”

Li Lide was willing to believe this, but laughed even more rampantly: "I remember you said to me at the beginning that you want to make alkali through seawater, but seawater, how can seawater make alkali?" Haha......"

The mud bodhisattva also has three points of fire.

Fan Xudong directly pointed to Cheng Nuo on the side and introduced: "If it were me, I would definitely not be able to, but now that we have Professor Cheng joining, it will be ...... then."

Without waiting for this sentence to be finished, Cheng Nuo stopped him directly: "Before mass production, we are still low-key, and some necessary machines still need to be imported from foreign countries, and China cannot be self-reliant for the time being." ”

Fan Xudong was like a slap in the face, and immediately sobered up a lot: "Zhiyuan, what you said is right, I was careless." ”

After saying this, Fan Xudong directly waved his fist at Li Lide as a threat, and then turned around and left with Cheng Nuo.

And Cheng Nuo's side, he didn't even look at this guy.

Shrimp soldiers and crab generals, not to be afraid.

Waiting for the successful mass production of the Hou's alkali making method, there is a time for them to cry.

On the other side, after Li Lide saw that the other party ignored him, he tried his best to ridicule them, but unfortunately when the figures disappeared, there was no response.

It was really a punch to the cotton.

"Professor Cheng, Professor Cheng...... Could it be? Impossible, certainly impossible, didn't he study mathematics, how could he also study chemistry, how could there be such an all-knowing and all-powerful talent in the world, I must have thought too much.

Yes, I must have thought more.

Go to church one day and confess before God......"

It's a pity that no matter how much he comforts himself, the sense of crisis in his heart can't be eliminated, but it has a tendency to increase.

On the other side, feeling Fan Xudong's unhappiness, Cheng Nuo spoke out and comforted:

"You're right, there's a lot of room for seawater. When seawater is introduced into the salt pans, seawater is turned into brine, and after concentration and evaporation, crystals are formed. Because the salt pan contains a lot of sodium chloride, it will not freeze for 39 days. There is no ice in winter, no green in summer, and the cost of making alkali from salt is very controllable. ”

Fan Xudong smiled bitterly and shook his head: "The sea breeze blows all year round, there are only male workers and no female workers, and the life of salt workers is very hard." ”

It is getting closer and closer to the Jiuda Salt Factory, and many salt farms have been built on both sides of the road.

As far as the eye can see, the salt flats of 100 miles are all white. Not to mention the wild grass, it is difficult to see even a dead tree. The raging sea breeze whined, piles of raw salt, and the stars reflected the light of the sun, and the end of the blue sky.

However, Cheng Nuo could feel the potential vitality below, facing the Baili salt flat, looking at the stormy Bohai Sea, facing the whistling sea breeze, and shouting loudly:

"Ho-babble-ho-"

Shouting into the distance with all the strength of his body, until his vocal cords can no longer make a sound.

Infected by this, Fan Xudong also roared at the distance where he couldn't see the future clearly, trying to overpower the sound of the waves.

"Come on, come again!"

When both of them were released, Fan Xudong gasped, bent down and held his knees with his hands:

"Zhiyuan, can we do it?"

Cheng Nuo said confidently: "I will be a water hit for 3,000 miles, and I am confident that I will live for 200 years." That's it! ”

……

In the following days, Cheng Nuo and Fan Xudong were busy with chemical experiments during the day and imagined the future together at night.

Talk about salt, talk about alkali, talk about acid, talk about the sea.

Talk about the past, talk about the present, talk about the middle, and talk about the outside.

That intimacy is like a friend who has been reunited for a long time, and a brother who is like a brother.

It's a pity that the factory is not unique to Fan Xudong, he is only one of the shareholders.

Even if Cheng Nuo joined, with the title of the first person in domestic science today, the newly established Yongli Alkali Factory was also suspicious of him, and insisted that after the old method did not work, he would use the "Hou's alkali method".

However, dozens of experiments have been carried out, and there are still no successful results. Seeing that the good soda market is about to be lost, in order to put into production as soon as possible and obtain benefits as soon as possible, the partners all advocate taking the Mongolian natural soda processing market to make a profit, or use the old-fashioned method to manufacture soda ash to seek huge profits.

Fan Xudong believes that alkali production is the basic cause of a country, and the Roblang method is backward in technology, so it can produce alkali early and make profits early, but it is not conducive to the development of the country, and does not agree to adopt it.

Immediately Fan Xudong held a shareholders' meeting, at which he advocated the use of Solvay's advanced alkali technology to engage in the production of soda ash manufacturing, but the shareholders were unwilling to continue to invest.

At this time, Cheng Nuo, who had been waiting for a long time, appeared again, brought new technology and more sufficient funds, and became the largest shareholder of the alkali plant.

Under the leadership of Cheng Nuo, he decided to purchase equipment from abroad and organize the design by himself.

At that time, several major companies that monopolized the alkali production technology also kept strict secrecy from each other. Important machinery and equipment are manufactured by each factory, and complete sets of equipment are not sold. The purchased equipment can only be pieced together, and the design is very difficult.

To this end, Cheng Nuo specially called Tesla from the Institute of Applied Engineering and asked them to participate in person.

At this time, Cheng Nuo sincerely sighed that it was not easy to successfully make soda ash in the chemical laboratory and batch soda in the factory, one is the earth and the other is the sky.

During this period, Cheng Nuo also always wanted to support domestic products, but unfortunately the technology did not support it.

The color of the alkali is reddish, the composition is slightly lower, the quality is not as good as foreign goods, it is not popular, and the output is limited.

After painstaking investigation, it turned out to be a problem with the iron pot.

In desperation, in order to ensure quality, we had to temporarily use all foreign equipment.

Wait until the time is right before you make plans.

It's a pity that even with the blessing of Cheng Nuo, a traverser, there are still a lot of pits in the middle.

Hurry up, hurry, two months have passed.

By the end of 1917, it was also an important moment to open the furnace.