Go back to the past and be a schoolboy

Chapter 181 Acid and Alkali Industry
"Bao Cai, Bao Cai, what a hot Bao Cai! Look at Bao Er,

Look at Bao'er, try the stuffing of Bao'er! "

With a pair of big eyes, Nidan'er shook Cheng Nuo's clothes and asked affectionately, "Sir, what is Baocai?"

It was distressing to say the least, but after Cheng Nuo sent out the plan for the future development direction of the Academy of Sciences and explained the specific reasons, everyone agreed and was willing to cooperate vigorously.

But when it came to the specific development path, everyone began to argue with each other.

The Institute of Applied Engineering, represented by Tesla, stated that agricultural machinery should be developed first, and while closely related to industry, it can also greatly improve agricultural productivity.

When Cheng Nuo heard this suggestion at the beginning, he almost expressed his support on the spot. In addition to combining industry and agriculture, he could also directly use the engine chassis to quickly transform it into a tank. Tin wagons are still out of the question.

While the medical school represented by Wu Lien-teh expressed support for the proposal, he also euphemistically introduced that the current rural people's medical environment is extremely poor, and they don't even understand basic health support. It is basically zero, and all vaccines have to be purchased from foreign countries.

Cheng Nuo thought about it, and it was true. In the era of lack of antibiotics, the hidden risk of disease was extremely high, and the average life expectancy was extremely low.It is entirely possible to take advantage of this opportunity to move out penicillin in advance and find a way to mass-produce it. After all, in this era when there are almost no production tools, population is productivity.

In addition to these two major factions, there are also smaller voices such as the development of pesticides, education, and seed improvement, which cannot be ignored. Even the reasons are very reasonable, and it is difficult to find specific loopholes.

For a while, Cheng Nuo couldn't make a choice, so he simply put the question on hold for the time being.

Staying at home, I couldn't figure out why, so I took my four children and walked on the street to see what the common people urgently needed at this time.

Following the direction Nidan'er's little hand pointed, what Cheng Nuo saw was just a pasta shop.

If you take a closer look, the so-called "baocai" are just big steaming steamed buns with thin skin and thick flesh.

"Old Beijing speaks auspicious words, especially those who are close to business. Although the buns are just ordinary fillings, but when you shout like this, the buns inside are all treasures. People who buy buns don't Are you here?" Cheng Nuo patted Nidan's head and explained with a smile.

Sure enough, before the yelling was finished, a man dressed as a businessman came over. After talking with a foreign accent, he took a few buns from the owner of the bun shop, especially during the buying and selling process. Boss Zhong sent a few good words for free, which made the businessman smile even more.

Seeing this scene, Nidan became even more curious, and touched the corner of her mouth unconsciously with her little hand: "Compared with the pork stuffed buns made by my mother, will Baocai taste better?"

Although the voice was low, it was still heard by Cheng Nuo, his face was full of sunshine: "Have you all eaten?"

"Ah? Sir, is he asking us?" Goudaner looked around and didn't know what to look at. He was taken aback by these words, and after realizing it, he hurriedly replied: "My mother was peeling garlic when she came, and she said she was waiting for us. Go back and make garlic noodles."

Wen Cong nodded: "When we go back, Aunt Xiuni should have already done it."

Cheng Nuo raised his eyebrows: "That is to say, you haven't eaten yet? That's good."

While talking, Cheng Nuo led the child directly to the steamed stuffed bun shop, and shouted to the boss, "Boss, please bring me two catties of steamed stuffed buns with all kinds of fillings. If it's delicious, we'll come back next time."

In the north, especially in Beijing and Tianjin, there are many occasions where buns are eaten by weight.

It sounds like two catties is a lot, but when it comes to a few children, plus Cheng Nuo, the big eater, it's actually not much.

But when the children were full of anticipation and ready to feast, Cheng Nuo looked at the steaming buns and felt something was wrong.

I put it near my mouth and didn't rush to eat it, so I smelled it first.

In addition to the aroma of steamed buns, there was actually a sour smell.

After taking a bite, it really had an abnormal sour taste.

In fact, when making pasta, especially steamed buns, it is required to ferment the noodles, and at the same time, it is necessary to add an appropriate amount of alkaline water to the dough to remove the sour taste in the fermented noodles.

If the alkali is too high, the steamed steamed buns will turn yellow and not soft.

When the alkali is low, the steamed buns will have a sour taste, which is exactly the same as the bun skin that Cheng Nuo is eating now.

Thinking that the lye hadn't melted in the dough, Cheng Nuo hurriedly asked the children beside him, "Are the buns you eat sour?"

Several children looked at each other, and in order to answer Cheng Nuo's question, everyone took a sip.

Sure enough, it tasted sour in the mouth.

Cheng Nuo was a little annoyed when he saw the owner of the steamed stuffed bun shop stealing and cheating. He immediately collected the steamed stuffed buns that had only tasted a mouthful, and the ones that hadn't touched their mouths. How old is it?"

The owner of the steamed stuffed bun shop had a hint of pride in his tone: "Beat my grandpa's generation, our family sold steamed stuffed buns here. You can go to any corner of the four or nine cities to inquire. In terms of the length of the store, there are few shops that can surpass ours." .”

Seeing that it was a time-honored store bullying customers, Cheng Nuo became even angrier, and immediately threw the steamed bun in his hand in front of him: "I think you are open-minded in business, but why are you not open-minded in doing things? You can try this steamed stuffed bun." , is it so sour that you can eat it?"

Originally, according to Cheng Nuo's idea, when the owner of the steamed stuffed bun shop found out that the taste was wrong, he would at least call the chef over to scold him, and then make an apology and make it up again.

Unexpectedly, the owner of the bun shop seemed to know that the buns were sour in advance, and he directly refused Cheng Nuo's request to change the buns. He spread his hands and said helplessly, "Is this going to work? I'll refund you the money for the buns. Don't tell me This drawer of steamed stuffed buns is sour, and the next drawer and the next drawer are all sour."

Cheng Nuo was confused now, and said that the other party is a hob meat, and he is willing to refund the money.

Let's talk about sincerity. People refuse to change the buns, and they say they are all sour. There is no reason for this.

Could it be that sour buns are popular in Beijing after not eating steamed stuffed buns for several months?
"Master, what do you mean by this?" Cheng Nuo asked in confusion.

"Don't say it's my house, you just buy it from street to store, and the buns are sour." The owner of the bun shop shook his head and sighed with a bit of bitterness: "It's just a few rich and powerful restaurants, their buns and steamed buns are sour. Not sour."

Cheng Nuo gradually understood, and asked a little uncertainly, "Could it be because of the alkaline noodles?"

The owner of the steamed stuffed bun shop nodded: "The price of goods is soaring, and the price of alkaline noodles is almost skyrocketing. You can't afford it at all. I guess you are also a rich family. How you ate it before is how you eat it now. Ordinary people like us, as long as It’s enough if you can’t afford it, you don’t care about whether it’s sour or not, you just don’t need it if you can’t afford it.”

After these words, Cheng Nuo's face felt a little hot.

Take a long time to cover up one's tears, and mourn the hardship of the people's livelihood.

After heaving a long sigh in his heart, Cheng Nuo didn't continue to pester him. He repacked the buns and brought them back, and ate them bite by bite without wasting any food.

Sure enough, in the subsequent survey of the people's livelihood, it was found that the impact of alkali deficiency is far more than a simple change of eating habits.

In this era, compound alkali was still one of the main raw materials in the cotton textile industry, and was used as a desizing agent, scouring agent and mercerizing agent for cotton cloth.

Because of the lack of alkali, the domestic cotton textile industry suffered a huge blow, and many ordinary people had to go back and reuse homespun and coarse cloth to make clothes.

In addition, industries such as soap, paper, glass, gunpowder, and even fertilizer, which Cheng Nuo was very concerned about, required a lot of alkali.

The traditional methods of extracting lye from plant ash and extracting trona from salt lake edema are far from meeting the needs of national development.

Although the Belgian chemist Solvay realized the industrialization of the atmosphere alkali method very early, it can be produced continuously, with large output and low cost.

However, the capitalists of the Solvay soda production method adopted strict confidentiality measures in order to enjoy the technological achievements exclusively. Some experts tried to explore the secrets of this technology, but all ended in failure.

Catching up with the current World War I, the British company Bo Neimen, which monopolizes my country's alkali industry, took the opportunity to hoard it. Not only did people's livelihood be greatly negatively affected, but some national industries were also forced to suspend production and go bankrupt.

"Since it is so necessary in this era, let's start with the acid-alkali industry!"

After summarizing the results of many investigations, Cheng Nuo quietly came up with such an answer in his heart.

After hearing the news, Jiang Jiangzuo did not express his opinion in a hurry, but wandered around in the office, making Cheng Nuo nearly faint.

"Don't go around in circles, talk quickly if you have something to say, let go of fart if you have something to say, leave me here and hide it, what kind of words are you talking about?"

"Okay, then I'll tell the truth." Jiang Jiangzuo sat back on the chair and put his right arm on the table: "I didn't have any objection whether you said you wanted to develop industry or agriculture before, but now you jump right now." When it comes to the chemical industry, I have to say a few words."

Cheng Nuo, who was writing at his desk, stopped writing and raised his head, and said with great interest, "Tell me, how do you understand it?"

"Dean, what you want to develop is not the chemical industry where raw materials such as leather, soap, and matches are easy to obtain, the processing process is simple, and does not require too much technology, but the acid-alkali industry!" The domestic acid and alkali industry is not optimistic.

Cheng Nuo still had a gentle smile on his face: "Go on, I'm listening."

Jiang Jiangzuo sighed, and then said: "I know what you are thinking, comrades also want to do this, but the problem is that this industry cannot be solved by touching the upper and lower lips. It is difficult to obtain raw materials, and the production process and process are extremely complicated. the most important is……"

Cheng Nuo asked with a smile, "What's the most important thing?"

Jiang Jiangzuo said with a bit of sadness: "The most important thing is that he needs a technician with a certain knowledge of the chemical industry to guide him. Where can we get this?"

Cheng Nuo stood up from the chair, came to his friend, patted his shoulder and said in relief: "If you want to become the founder of domestic industry, besides our Academy of Sciences has this ability, there is also a country with stronger overall strength than us." ?"

The development of the chemical industry, especially the acid and alkali industry, is not only due to the urgent need in the country, but also in line with the development of the times.

According to the development of China's chemical industry, the academic circles of later generations are divided into several stages, among which Cheng Nuo's [-]-[-] period is the beginning period of the chemical industry's progress.

The First World War can bring negative effects, and naturally it can also bring positive effects to the country.

In particular, chemical industries such as papermaking, tanning, oil extraction, matches, ceramics, glass, bricks and tiles, and cement have all achieved considerable development.

"As the foundation of various industries, the demand for the acid-base industry is getting stronger and stronger. In some places with a relatively good industrial development foundation, sprouts have emerged. We choose the acid-base industry, not from scratch."

While talking, Cheng Nuo took out the acid-base industry plan he had drafted, turned a few pages and spread it in front of Jiang Jiangzuo, introducing: "The acids here include hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid and nitric acid, which can be used for dyes, explosives, etc. , pharmaceuticals, etc., are the necessities of military enterprises.

Alkali mainly includes caustic soda and soda ash, which can be used in paper making, soap, dyeing, etc.Although we have natural alkaline land, it is a pity that the extraction process is not refined and cannot compete with imported products. "

After receiving the plan, Jiang Jiangzuo didn't read it in a hurry, looked at Cheng Nuo and asked, "Does that mean alkali is the main thing first?"

Cheng Nuo smiled and shook his head: "If I know the trick or method of extraction, why can't I do it at the same time?"

Jiang Jiangzuo was completely stunned, and said in disbelief: "Is this true?"

Cheng Nuo sat on the edge of the table, leaning on the table with both hands, and smiled face to face with his friend: "For example, the nitric acid I mentioned is manufactured by extracting hydrogen and nitrogen from air and water to synthesize ammonia, and combining ammonia to form nitrogen dioxide. Nitric acid can be absorbed by water.

In this process, we can completely synthesize ammonia fertilizer. This is a big treasure. With it, the output of Lao Guo’s experimental field can be increased by at least one-third to one-fourth. It will be popularized in the future. I don’t know how much it can feed. Open your mouth. "

China has always emphasized that the people depend on food, Cheng Nuo's words, especially the second half of the sentence, thoroughly spoke to Jiang Jiangzuo's heart.

"No wonder you sat firmly in the grand master's chair when everyone was arguing. It turned out that you wanted to be ahead of all of us." Putting the plan on the table, Jiang Jiangzuo stood up suddenly and said firmly: "Tell me, what do you want to do, On behalf of the comrades of the Academy of Sciences, I fully support you!"

Cheng Nuo supported Jiang Jiangzuo's shoulders with both hands, pushed him back on the chair and said with a smile, "It's just that, I'm short of an errand runner right now, and I need to go to Tianjin again, help me meet someone?"

Jiang Jiangzuo asked curiously, "Who is it?"

Cheng Nuo smiled respectfully: "Fan Xudong.

Don't try your best if you can borrow your strength. If someone shares the pressure, the resistance in front of us will naturally be much smaller. "

It could be called "basic industry" or "basic chemical industry" from the [-]s to the [-]s, and the acid and alkali industry deserved Cheng Nuo's chance.

(End of this chapter)