At this time, the value of Hou's alkali method is actually not so great:

The coastal areas of the country have not yet been occupied by the Japanese army, and there will be no shortage of sodium chloride if there is a sea.

Secondly, the domestic process of producing synthetic ammonia is still controlled by others, not to mention that only seamless steel pipes cannot be produced, and foreigners need to nod and spend a lot of money to build a factory......

However, from an industrial point of view, the practical value of Hou's alkali method at this time is not inferior to that of Solvay's alkali method, and from an agricultural point of view, the by-product ammonium chloride also has high economic value.

Even if you don't need this process now, you can still use it in the future when you go to war.

However, these are not the things that Bao Guowei should have a headache now, he only knows that this research can make his name abroad.

……

Inside the factory director's office.

Probably because he was too tired before, when he heard the news brought by Bao Guowei, Mr. Hou suddenly felt that his head hurt a little, and he rubbed his temples:

"Bao Guowei, no one else knows about this yet, right?"

Bao Guowei has been hiding people's eyes and ears intentionally or unintentionally in the past few days, for fear that this technology will be stolen by others, so naturally there is no need to worry about this kind of thing:

"In the past few days, I have been working in a group by myself, and I have not mentioned my experimental process to anyone, except for occasionally asking Mr. Li to configure some basic raw materials for me."

Hearing this, Mr. Hou breathed a sigh of relief, he took a sip of Biluochun tea on the table, and then dialed the landline next to the office and called the guard room:

"Hey! Lao Wang! You tell Dadong to come over, yes, come over now......"

……

Tianjin is in the north, and now it is winter, the sky is dark early, and the sun disappears at four o'clock in the afternoon.

The laboratories in the research building of the Academy of Sciences have turned on the electric lights, and people continue to carry out complex chemical experiments under the lights.

Today, there is something unusual that the researchers of Laboratory 3 actually received a notice to leave work early:

"Today, the No. 3 laboratory will be off work early, and the salary will remain the same, please properly carry out the aftermath of the experiment before leaving work to avoid accidents."

The repetition of chemical experiments day after day is very boring, and no one wants to work even a quarter of an hour longer.

After receiving this notice, the staff of the laboratory hurriedly ended the experiment in their hands and left the laboratory after eliminating all potential safety hazards that may be caused by the experiment.

"Why did you leave work early today? Didn't they all wish we were working overtime until the night! ”

"I don't know, but it's getting colder and colder lately, so let's go home and bake a fire."

"Where's the young man who has been doing experiments in the lab?"

"I don't know, maybe it's just to come to the lab to play, and run away after the freshness is over."

Soon, Nuoda's No. 3 laboratory was empty.

……

At half past four in the afternoon, the door of Laboratory No. 3 was opened, and two people walked in: one was Mr. Hou Debang, and the other was Young Master Bao Guowei.

With a "snap", the dozen or so light bulbs on the ceiling have been turned back on, and the laboratory is illuminated as if it were daylight: the marble walls and the iron laboratory table are dizzy.

"Mr. Hou, follow me."

Led by Bao Guowei, Mr. Hou went to a laboratory bench in the northwest corner.

Mr. Hou looked at the experimental equipment on the iron table and the materials arranged on the table, and he frowned thoughtfully.

"Bao Guowei, can you reproduce this experimental process for me again?"

"Yes."

In the face of Mr. Hou's request, Bao Guowei naturally couldn't refuse, after all, this itself was Mr. Hou's "invention", and he wouldn't take it alone.

He re-selected a cleaned piece of laboratory equipment, and after the initial assembly, he removed the high-concentration chlorine sealed bottle and saturated sodium chloride solution from the storage shelf......

Mr. Hou Debang just stood in place, watching Bao Guowei go around.

His mood at the moment was a little mixed - not only anticipation, but also some fear.

He hopes that Bao Guowei succeeds and that China's soda industry can take a step forward, at least on an academic level.

In fact, not only in the method of alkali production, this country is still controlled by others even in the production of synthetic ammonia and other pre-technology, but after all, it has fallen so far behind, and now even a little progress is good.

Mr. Hou vaguely hoped that Bao Guowei would ...... Fail.

He is thirty-seven years old this year, he has devoted almost the first half of his life to the alkali industry, he has devoted almost all his body and mind to improving Solvay's alkali production method, and he has begun to study the new alkali production method with all his might, and it is not the first year now......

But now that a new middle school student has arrived in the chemical plant, it may take only three days to catch up with his more than ten years of hard work, and he will inevitably feel that he will suffer from gains and losses.

Mr. Hou put his hands behind his waist and paced back and forth near the experimental table, and his hard-soled leather shoes made a "click" sound of different frequencies on the bluestone floor, indicating that his mood at the moment was not as calm as it seemed.

Bao Guowei didn't care what Mr. Hou thought, and after making preliminary preparations for the experiment, he took out a match, lit a candle, and began to heat the sodium chloride solution in the beaker.

After the thermometer reading reached 30 degrees Celsius, Bao Guowei took out the ammonia sealed bottle and used a catheter to pass the sodium chloride solution after some operation......

……

After some careful operation, the experiment was finally completed, and the finished sodium hydroxide and the by-product ammonium chloride have been packed into two glass trays by Bao Guowei.

"Mr. Hou Debang, the experiment has been completed."

Bao Guowei's face showed a little tiredness, he did this complete experiment very slowly, it took an hour, and it was very energy-consuming.

It was now completely dark, and from the window of the laboratory, you could see the bright moon hanging in the sky, looming in the gray-black clouds.

At the end of the experiment, Mr. Hou Debang had already prepared platinum wire and purple litmus test paper in advance.

In fact, according to the experimental raw materials and experimental process, coupled with the properties of the two products, Mr. Hou almost confirmed that the products in front of him were indeed soda ash and ammonium chloride.

However, in the spirit of the rigor of the scientific researchers, he still has to carry out the final test.

Bao Guowei had already given up his position early, and after nodding at him, Mr. Hou came to the side of the test table, ready to start the test—those slightly trembling hands revealed that he was a little nervous inside.

After heating the platinum wire with an alcohol lamp, he gently stretched the platinum wire into a small pile of sodium hydroxide powder on the iron plate, and a yellow flame rose with a "poof".

Seeing the scene in front of him, Mr. Hou only felt as if his brain had been smashed with a sledgehammer, and he was a little dizzy, and his original squinting eyes were also widened a lot at this moment.

Before he had time to ease his mood, Mr. Hou's eyes turned to another glass dish, on which also placed a cloud of white powder, ammonium chloride.

He rubbed the moistened purple litmus paper on another pile of white powder—it turned blue.

"This ...... Soda ash and ammonium chloride? Just do that? Just do that? Soda ash and ammonium chloride can be made just by doing soda ......"

Hou Debang froze in place, muttering this sentence repeatedly in his heart, his eyes were still staring at the blued test strip in his hand, and he only felt like he was dreaming.

For so many years, the new alkali making method that I dreamed of researching has appeared? And it was from a fifteen-year-old middle school student?

For the first time, the man, who had scored 1,000 points in the university exam, earned a doctorate in engineering in Massachusetts, and led the domestic soda industry to win awards at the Philadelphia Fair, began to doubt his abilities for the first time.

"Mr. Hou? Director Hou? ”

Bao Guowei's shout pulled Mr. Hou's thinking back.

After coming back to his senses, Mr. Hou put both hands on Bao Guowei's shoulders and shook them, probably because he was too excited, and the strength of Mr. Hou's hands was not small.

"Bao Guowei, you ...... What a genius! ”

Hearing this compliment, Bao Guowei always felt a little weird: he was actually plagiarizing other people's research results in front of others, and in the end people were still praising himself?

"Mr. Hou has won the award, how can I ...... without your trust and guidance?"

The meaning of Bao Guowei's words is obvious: the research results were "guided" by Mr. Hou......

If Mr. Hou is willing, it is okay for him to dip some light in the name of his mentor.

Mr. Hou Debang is a clever person, how could he not hear the meaning of Bao Guowei's words, his expression froze for a moment, and returned to normal in an instant.

"Bao Guowei, you are simply born to do chemical research, there are more than a dozen researchers in the soda factory, with so many people, and the research results of these years are not even ...... to you."

Mr. Hou pretended not to understand and changed the topic, which was actually within Bao Guowei's expectations, with the heart of a person like Mr., he naturally disdained to touch the light of others:

"Mr. Hou, I'm still in middle school, I'm afraid I will have to go to school for a few more years, let's talk about this kind of thing later."

Bao Guowei smiled and politely declined Mr. Hou's request.

Amazing people can easily achieve success in whatever they do.

Historically, the Hou's alkali method, which only appeared in 1941, came to the world thirteen years ahead of schedule.

I wonder what direction Mr. Hou will choose to conduct research in the future, and what new achievements will he make?

……

Mr. Hou dragged Bao Guowei to repeat the experiment in the laboratory several times.

He found pen and paper from the laboratory, and kept recording the experimental data while doing the experiment.

Bao Guowei did not have any obstacle to this - he had already shown the entire experimental process to others, and it didn't matter if they remembered the experimental data or not.

Although Mr. Hou is now a factory director, he is still an academic fanatic in the final analysis, and after getting the new alkali making method, he was obviously very excited—it was not until Bao Guowei's hungry stomach let out a "cooing" sound that Mr. Hou's mentality finally broke away from being a researcher.

Mr. Hou heard Bao Guowei's voice, his eyes finally left the experimental device, he put down the pen and paper in his hand, and scratched his somewhat Mediterranean head:

"Bao Guowei, I'm sorry, I'm a little out of shape today, do you want to go out to eat together?"

"Absolutely."

It's 1 a.m. the next morning, and the chemical plant's staff canteen has been closed for hours, so the two have no choice but to find a restaurant outside to cope.

As soon as he walked out of the experimental building, Bao Guowei met three of his subordinates, all of whom looked a little anxious, stretching out their heads to look at the roof of the experimental building.

They apparently wanted to enter, but were stopped by the guards guarding the door of the laboratory building.

Seeing that Bao Guowei was safe and sound, the three subordinates finally settled down.

"It's all gone! Mr. Hou and I went out for dinner. ”

Hearing Bao Guowei's shout, the three subordinates also dispersed together and returned to their dormitories to rest.

……

Before going out to eat, Mr. Hou also brought a few doormen with guns on their backs.

Even in one of the best big cities like Tianjin, you should be cautious when traveling at night, and don't bring more people, if you encounter any ruffians and hooligans, it is really not worth it.

At Mr. Li's Tianjin Restaurant, the palace lamp on the ceiling is on, and the dining table is made of mahogany, even though it is more than two o'clock in the morning, there are still more than a dozen richly dressed diners dining here.

Mr. Hou is still in a very good mood now, and as soon as he sat on the chair, he said very generously to Bao Guowei opposite:

"Bao Guowei, you can eat whatever you want! Today I have a treat! ”

……

Soon there was a plate of Bazhen tofu, a whole roast duck, a pot of stewed fresh sea fish, two large bowls of rice, and finally a large plate of sliced sausages.

Even in a high-end restaurant, the cost of this meal is only two yuan, which is negligible compared to the cost of Bao Guowei's recent train ride.

"Mr. Hou, I'm going back to Jiangnan in a few days."

While eating, Bao Guowei suddenly said such a sentence.

Hearing Bao Guowei's words, Mr. Hou was stunned for a moment, he was going back so soon?

"Bao Guowei, isn't the winter vacation going to be a month off, don't you stay in the soda factory for a few more days?

If you don't eat well or live well, I can improve it for you, or rent you a ...... outside."

Bao Guowei shook his head, he originally planned to stay in Tianjin for ten days and half a month, but on the way here, the figure of Lao Bao kept appearing in his mind, and he always remembered the eyes that seemed to be begging him not to go far that day.

For Bao Guowei, fame and wealth are enough as long as they are enough, and the most important thing is his family.

Therefore, Bao Guowei planned to leave the soda factory early after finishing his work and set foot on the road back to Suzhou.

Mr. Hou stuffed a piece of fish meat into his mouth, and he had already recalled it at the moment, what did Bao Guowei just say what he meant:

"You have now developed a new alkali production method, and if this method is made public, I am afraid it will cause a lot of repercussions in the academic community......"

"Yes, I'm here for fame and fortune."

Bao Guowei was blunt.

(End of chapter)