For Sichuan during the Republic of China, 1917 was a rather complicated year.

Due to the Beijing government's renunciation of the Treaty Law and the dissolution of the National Assembly, Sun ** organized the Extraordinary National Assembly and the Guangzhou Military Government in Guangdong and other places, announced the protection of the law, and ordered a crusade against the illegal government of Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui in Beijing, which opened the prelude to the "War to Protect the Law".

At that time, Sichuan, with its political complexity, became one of the focal points of the struggle between the north and the south.

Of course, in fact, Sichuan has always been the focus of contention among various political forces, especially after the fall of Yuan, the political situation in Sichuan has become extremely complicated, from the centralized rule of the Beiyang government to the joint rule of the Yunnan and Guizhou people, and the local forces in Sichuan are relatively weak.

As far as the party is concerned, the original monopoly of the imperial faction Chen Shi has changed to the separation of power between the Kuomintang headed by Luo Peijin and the progressive party headed by Dai Huan. Luo and Dai both have backstage bosses behind them, Luo Peijin's backstage is Tang Jiyao, and Dai Huan's backstage is Liang Qichao.

Therefore, even if Dai Huan was besieged by Liu Cunhou, cornered, and forced to commit suicide, Liang Qichao had a certain influence in Sichuan.

At present, Xiong Kewu, the commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Yasukuni armies appointed by the south, is at odds with Liu Cunhou, the Sichuan overseer appointed by the north, and an internal Yasukuni War in Sichuan, known as the "War to Protect the Law," has broken out.

Although it seems to be a huge scale, in fact, it is all big and rainy.

In Sichuan, being a soldier is a profession, and in a sense, it is a means of employment.

Everyone came out to serve as soldiers to have a full stomach, but unfortunately they were too poor, and four out of ten people had guns to be called elite troops.

If you can fight, you will fight, and if you can't fight, you will run, and no one will really be ruthless.

So it was in such a chaotic background that Cheng Nuo took Liang Qichao and his party and quietly entered Chongqing.

"Here, let's play an anagram!"

"Okay, let's play an anagram."

The two naughty boys each took a piece of charcoal, and on a shiny three-way soil drying grain dam, one person said one sentence, singing and drawing:

"A little bit is long,

The word down the word square,

There are filaments wound around each side,

……

The one on the right is fighting,

Make a golden hook and hang your clothes. ”

Cheng Nuo has always liked to deal with children, squatted down carefully, and said with a smile: "Hello children, do you know where the Tongyuan Bureau is?" ”

As the name suggests, the Tongyuan Bureau is a machinery factory built by Xiliang, the then governor of Sichuan, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, with 20 million taels of silver, to manufacture copper dollars and silver dollars.

As one of the few large-scale machinery factories in Chongqing at that time, it also played the role of a power plant by the way, and the first electric light in Chongqing in modern times was lit by the factory.

Later, it was requisitioned by Liu Xiang, using its tableting equipment, the copper yuan bureau was changed into a bullet factory, named the 21st Army Bullet Factory, in addition to continuing to produce copper yuan, but also manufactured seven or nine steps of machine gun ammunition, to the Anti-Japanese War The factory rapidly expanded to the most important bullet factory in China at that time, and made great contributions to the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

The factory was still in use after the liberation, and the final production was not stopped until Cheng Nuo crossed.

Therefore, Cheng Nuo's first stop in Chongqing was to come to the factory to see if he could cooperate and help customize some equipment.

If possible, it is also very possible to buy some equipment from the factory.

In order to shorten the distance between him and the child, Cheng Nuo deliberately took out a few rock candy and grinned: "Whoever answers first will belong to whoever owns these candies." ”

As he spoke, he deliberately put rock candy in front of the noses of the two children and let them smell it: "Look, it's very sweet." ”

Liang Qichao, who saw this scene, couldn't help but be happy: "Zhiyuan, if I didn't know your details, I would still think that I didn't come here to set up a factory, but came to abduct a child, like, it's really like, it's too similar." ”

The two naughty boys were originally moved, the sugar had been eaten, but it was made by the ancient method, and this shiny, shiny rock sugar was the first time I had seen it.

But after hearing Liang Qichao's words, the naughty boys immediately became cautious and flashed far away.

"Mother said, don't let us talk to outsiders."

"My mother also said that she wouldn't let us eat other people's things."

After saying this, the girl ran away, and those who didn't know thought that there was something behind them to chase them.

Cheng Nuo stood up helplessly, put away the rock candy, and glanced at Liang Qichao with resentment.

Liang Qichao turned his head slightly embarrassed, and changed the topic with a haha: "Zhiyuan, do you really want to press the treasure on Liu Xiang, in my eyes, although that guy is good, but now he is only a brigade commander of the first division of the old Sichuan Army, which is really not enough to see." ”

Cheng Nuo smiled and shook his head: "Now there are only 8 divisions in the entire Sichuan Army, and it is not easy for Liu Xiang to become one of the brigade commanders, not to mention that he is still a lieutenant general in legal theory at the moment, and his potential is huge." ”

Liang Qichao hesitated: "But politically, you have to bet on many sides, so as not to have accidents when you get it, sometimes the grass on the wall is also a kind of wisdom, don't be like me, too childish in politics." ”

Cheng Nuo smiled: "Thank you Ren Gong for reminding me, there is a risk of single betting, but the gain is greater, and I can still look at people." ”

Liang Qichao still wanted to continue to persuade, but he thought that he had stumbled until now, and he had suffered losses because he was not allowed to see people, and he had failed all the way through, so what qualifications did he have to teach others, and he would not be able to tell enough jokes.

"It's better to be careful." Liang Qichao said sincerely: "I'm about to get to the factory now, I think we might as well divide the soldiers into two ways, you go to the factory, and I will contact Liu Xiang, which can not only save time, but also do what we are good at." ”

Cheng Nuo thought for a moment and said, "It's okay, then it's hard for Mr. Ren Gong." ”

So, after Cheng Nuo asked for the exact address of the Tongyuan Bureau, he separated from Liang Qichao and his party.

Since Cheng Nuo didn't make a big deal about coming over this time, not many people knew.

Later, after negotiating with the Tongyuan Bureau, they quietly bought shares and started to set up a synthetic ammonia factory in their name.

In fact, it is not that Cheng Nuo himself is willing to keep a low profile, but that the Sichuan army is too poor.

In the Republic of China, because of the problem of finance and taxation, it was often an important fuse of war during the warlord melee period of the Republic of China, which was especially obvious in the struggle of the warlords in the southwest.

With taxes, there is money, which is equivalent to having a stronger army.

Just like the current Liu Xiang's first division of the Sichuan Army, formerly known as the 17th Town of the Army in the late Qing Dynasty, the division commander is Zhou Jun, a graduate of the sixth phase of Japanese non-commissioned officers, and the equipment, training and officer quality are the crown of the Sichuan Army, and the Yunnan Army has been successfully defeated several times in the Battle of Sichuan and Yunnan.

In the current Protector War, Tang Jiyao is the self-proclaimed commander-in-chief of the salt robbery army, just to grab money.

If Cheng Nuo's synthetic ammonia factory can really successfully build a factory, and smoothly produce and sell, it will earn a certain amount of money.

At that time, Cheng Nuo was very worried, whether there would be any warlord who claimed to be the commander-in-chief of ammonia and snatched it, which was also uncertain.

Therefore, Cheng Nuo provided help to Liu Xiang while developing in a low-key manner, with the purpose of letting him grow as soon as possible and laying a relatively peaceful place.

Walk on thin ice and be careful every step of the way.

Fortunately, Liu Xiang is more ambitious, thinking about pacifying Sichuan and winning the Central Plains, so he is naturally very eager for things like money to expand his strength.

It just so happens that there are seven counties under his command, including Yongchuan, Rongchang, Tongdian, Dazu, Bishan, Hechuan, and Wusheng, which can be regarded as relatively powerful.

After seeing the "sincerity" brought by Cheng Nuo, he directly waved his hand and said that he could set up a factory anywhere.

Of course, the price of such preferential conditions is half of the factory's profits.

Although there was nothing to be done, the river crab god said that he could not enter politics, and Cheng Nuo had to give in temporarily.

In the spring of 1918, Cheng Nuo finally found a relatively flat and open area by the Yangtze River and began to officially build a factory.

Fortunately, the preliminary preparations are relatively sufficient, although it took a little effort, but it can always be on the right track.

On a sunny morning, Cheng Nuo was still in the laboratory with many experimenters, busy optimizing the ammonia synthesis process.

Liang Qichao excitedly took over a newspaper, and before the person came to the laboratory, the voice came first: "Zhiyuan, the nitrogen fertilizer effect mentioned above is true?" ”

Cheng Nuo frowned, and after taking the newspaper, he swept his eyes and said directly: "Of course it's true, nitrogen is a large element that crops need more, and the supply of nitrogen is directly related to the growth and development of crops, as well as yield and product quality."

Due to the low content of available nitrogen that crops can absorb and utilize in the soil, relying on soil and agricultural fertilizer alone to supply nitrogen is far from meeting the needs of high crop yield, so chemical nitrogen fertilizer is very important in agricultural production. ”

Liang Qichao said with great interest: "What we are doing now, isn't this it?" ”

Cheng Nuo nodded, and his subordinates were still using the dropper to take the test liquid: "Yes, this is what the big guy is busy with all day long." ”

Liang Qichao came to him and looked at it carefully, he was really curious about these bottles and cans, but when he thought that they were all glassware, they might break if he touched it a little, and he didn't know anything about this thing.

I wanted to touch it but didn't dare to touch it, and my face was very entangled.

Fan Xudong deliberately frightened: "Don't touch it, there is some liquid in it that is corrosive, if people touch it, let alone meat, the bones and dregs will have to be cleaned." ”

Liang Qichao was taken aback: "It's so terrifying, I have to stay away." ”

Cheng Nuo shook his head, walked over and said with a smile: "Mr. Ren Gong, you can rest assured, this is just our laboratory, as long as you are careful, nothing big will happen." However, there is one point, the reasonable application of nitrogen fertilizer can increase the yield of cereal crops by 20~70 catties, and each catty of nitrogen can increase the yield of rice, corn and wheat by 14~23 catties. ”

Liang Qichao said in disbelief: "So high? ”

Cheng Nuo nodded: "Of course, it just so happened that you came here today, our factory happens to have raw materials to produce, I wonder if Mr. Ren Gong is interested in going over to have a look?" ”

Liang Qichao said with high interest: "Then what are you waiting for, take me quickly." ”

In fact, during the days of the establishment of the factory, Cheng Nuo did not rest, but led the team to tackle key technical problems in the laboratory.

Even in the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, in addition to arranging vacations and red envelopes for his comrades, he was still busy working in the laboratory.

In order to select a preparation method with better effect, lower cost and larger output from several methods.

Especially in the preparation of hydrogen, although the electrolysis method can produce very high purity hydrogen (99.7~99.9%Hz), in principle, this is the simplest method, but it consumes a lot of electricity, and the value of electrical energy determines the economy of this method.

Although Cheng Nuo's vision is for Tesla to build hydroelectric power, the cost will be greatly reduced.

On the one hand, the construction of a hydroelectric power plant requires a long period of preparation, which cannot be completed in the short term, and it will take a lot of effort just to find a suitable location, and the fertilizer plant cannot wait.

On the other hand, hydropower is seasonal, and it is good in the wet season, and it is not used up, but it is not enough in the dry season, and thermal power generation is also needed to supplement.

Therefore, after thinking about it, I finally prepared to adjust the method of hydrogen production to the water vapor gasification solid fuel method, which can be roughly summarized as the following process; Originally, the carbon in the fuel reacted with water vapor to produce a gas mixture consisting mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

After removing impurities and adding water vapor, the gas is converted to CO at 400~500C in the presence of a suitable catalyst:

c + H20 (g) = (high temperature) = Co + H2

A high concentration of hydrogen is obtained from the gas mixture by removing CO in a less complicated step, such as washing the gas with water under pressure.

It's not just about making ammonia, either.

For example, the synthesis of other nitrogen compounds of industrial importance is often linked to the production of synthetic ammonia. For example, urea is produced from ammonia and carbon dioxide, and formamide is synthesized from ammonia and carbon monoxide.

In the case of joint production of ammonia, organic products and products obtained from the hydrogenation process within the scope of an industrial enterprise, it is desirable to establish a common gas production facility. In this way, they can be used in the most rational way to suit the properties of solid and gaseous fuels, and can be used from many production processes.

Of course, the above is only the raw material preparation part of synthetic ammonia, and it is the most important thing to really wait until the synthesis of raw materials.

The reaction of successfully generating ammonia through discharge in the laboratory cannot be used as the basis for industrial ammonia synthesis, with high energy consumption and low efficiency.

Moreover, Britain, France, and Germany have already built patent barriers in the international arena in advance, and unless Cheng Nuo is not ready to enter the international market, he will inevitably be stabbed in patents.

Therefore, after thinking twice, I finally chose catalysis under high temperature and high pressure.

Nitrogen and hydrogen are directly mixed, heated to 500C to 600C, pressurized to between 17.5m and 20MPa, and an iron catalyst is selected to act as a catalyst.

Of course, using pure iron as a catalyst has almost no effect, and alumina and a small amount of potassium oxide must be added to have a catalytic effect.

Finally, the industrial preparation process of synthetic ammonia is completed.

And Cheng Nuo also learned during this period that there was no concept of catalyst in China at this time, and even when Cheng Nuo first said the word, everyone was at a loss.

It wasn't until Cheng Nuo explained in other languages that everyone suddenly realized.

In this regard, Cheng Nuo can only sigh in his heart that the foundation of the domestic chemical industry is too weak, and it can even be said that everything is blank.

A little further on, there is a no-man's land.

Fortunately, there is Cheng Nuo's plug-in, not to mention anything else, just the choice of catalyst materials, the West has gone through thousands of studies before it came to fruition.

Nowadays, with the help of memory, it is easy to get results, and I have to say how lucky I am.

During this period, Cheng Nuo is also trying to cultivate his own domestic chemical talents, and attract talents to join with high benefits and great ambitions.

At this rate, the domestic chemical industry will have to go to the international forefront sooner or later, and I am afraid that it will not be able to cross the river by touching others, and everything will have to be done by itself.