Go back to the past and be a schoolboy

Chapter 219 Technology for Technology

The distance was long, and several oceans were separated, with German submarines cruising in between and British ships patrolling. Cheng Nuo himself took a considerable risk to bring a group of people from the Academy of Sciences here during the war.

Even if Cheng Nuo was a time traveler, it was impossible for him to change the laws of nature and transport thousands of tons of chemical weapons all at once.

So, even if this small warehouse wasn't all of Cheng Nuo's reserves, it basically accounted for a large part of it. Cheng Nuo spent a lot of effort to transport it here through a special channel.

Haber made a rough inventory, and all types of chemical weapons combined did not exceed a hundred tons.

Looking at the roster, Haber's face was a bit ugly, and he looked at Cheng Nuo with no politeness: "Young man from Japan, do you know how many chemical weapons we need to use in a medium-scale battle?"

Cheng Nuo pretended to be ignorant: "10 tons, 20 tons, or 40 tons?"

During this period, Haber shook his head all the time, and finally waited until Cheng Nuo had said almost, then he made a one with his left hand and an eight with his right hand, and said seriously: "The first time we used chemical weapons, we used 180 tons, but even so, We also failed, there wasn’t enough in the house.”

In fact, after Haber formulated the "Haber Project" named after himself and carried out chemical weapons research to produce results, when he wanted to deliver it to the German army, almost no commander except Duke Brecht was willing to try it. this risk.

The reason why Duke Brecht was willing to try was because his army was besieged in the battle for the Belgian city of Ypres, and there was no other way but chemical weapons.

In the course of the war where chemical weapons were used for the first time, the German army directed 5 tons of chlorine gas towards the defenders along the 180-meter-wide forward position within 6000 minutes. Miles of unguarded gaps.

It is a pity that the first chemical weapons attack in history failed due to a command error by the German army.

But it is undeniable that the results of chemical weapons are quite astonishing. It caused more than 5000 deaths and more than 10000 serious injuries.

After the failure of the use of the chemical weapon chlorine gas, Harper's wife Clara, who is also a doctor of chemistry, believed that this weapon was harmful to nature and persuaded him to give up.

Haber not only refused sharply, but also believed that the gossip spread by his wife caused the failure of the Battle of Ypres.

As a last resort, Carrara shot himself that night to prove his innocence.

Facing such fanatics, Cheng Nuo didn't have the slightest psychological burden to coax them. Instead, he came inside, patted one of the buckets, and introduced, "Captain Haber, I almost forgot to introduce you. In addition to chlorine and carbonyl chloride, we have prepared a little surprise for you."

Haber was frightened by Cheng Nuo's action, and wanted to rush out the door, but he seemed to be too timid, so he gritted his teeth and ran over to pull Cheng Nuo away: "Young man, you can put aside your surprise first, but first declare The thing is, you'd better be careful with chemical weapons."

On the contrary, Cheng Nuo acted nonchalantly and laughed loudly: "I never thought that the famous father of chemical weapons would be so careful."

Haber looked serious: "Treat science with a scientific attitude, otherwise God will punish every frivolous person."

Cheng Nuo nodded, then pointed to the three or four buckets of liquid hiding in the corner and introduced: "This is called dichlorodiethyl sulfide. It is a light yellow or colorless oily liquid. It smells like mustard or green onions or garlic. If you don't believe me, you can smell it."

Haber was shocked: "The famous 'Yellow Cross' poison, do you even have this?"

Cheng Nuo didn't comment on this, walked over and rolled the barrels of chemical weapons along the bottom of the barrels to Haber: "If the chemical name corresponding to the Yellow Cross poison is correct, then it should be the things shown in front of you."

After hearing this, Haber took several steps back again and again, his face turned red and then pale, both excited and frightened.

Cheng Nuo glanced back and was very satisfied with Haber's performance, but he didn't show it. Instead, he pointed to these babies and began to introduce: "Dichlorodiethyl sulfide is erosive and irritating to the skin and mucous membranes. Effect, can cause conjunctivitis and respiratory mucosal inflammation.

In severe cases, it will cause erosive edema, accompanied by secondary infection... Of course, in our Far East parlance, we prefer to call it a chemical weapon of 'mustard gas'. "

"That's enough. I understand all of this. Last year, our German army made the British army suffer a lot. It's a pity that with the protection against chlorine gas, the results were not as remarkable as the first use of chemical weapons." Haber interjected in time. , as if he knew a lot about mustard gas.

But after saying these words, Haber was very curious again: "But as far as I know, the smell of mustard gas is very obvious, and it is impossible to make the enemy unprepared. I want to know how you solve this problem. "

Cheng Nuo smiled and said mysteriously, "We got inspiration from the French."

Haber frowned and thought for a while, but he didn't know what medicine was hidden in Cheng Nuo's gourd. He wondered, "Is it those frogs? What tricks can they do? Oh, yes, the baguette can still scare people." of."

Cheng Nuo laughed and said, "Of course not, the French perfume is also good."

Haber suddenly realized: "So you put perfume in it?"

Cheng Nuo shook his head: "Perfume is a romantic thing. Although it is good to use on the battlefield, the cost is too high, and it obviously does not meet our tactical requirements."

Haber sniffed it lightly, and said in confusion, "It actually smells like lilac. Could it be that this came from your Yellow Cross potion?"

Cheng Nuo nodded: "Yes, we specially added methylbenzyl bromide to cover up the smell of the Yellow Cross potion. Just imagine, under the smell of a blooming lilac, let death hang over the enemy army , Victory is at your fingertips."

Following Cheng Nuo's imagination, the madness on Haber's face became more and more obvious.

His lips trembled slightly, and he wanted to step forward to hug these "mustard gas" excitedly, as if with these things, the bad situation of the German army in World War I could be reversed: "I want all of these, no one is left, no one is left, I have all of them." want."

Cheng Nuo raised his eyebrows, stopped Haber first, and said slowly: "Dear Captain Haber, have you forgotten something?"

Haber said impatiently: "What's the matter, tell me quickly, the German army urgently needs this kind of powerful weapon, by the way, did you say that these are just appetizers and desserts, and there will be a larger batch of chemical weapons on the way later, Yes or no?
If so, I will personally go to His Majesty to ask for credit for you. Not only can I grant you German household registration, but I can also guarantee that you will be awarded the honor of a senior military rank just like me! "

After Cheng Nuo heard this, he almost couldn't help laughing. Let me first talk about the difference between joining the German household registration at this time and joining the national army in 49. Waiting to be liquidated by Britain, France, the United States and other countries after the war? kind of silly.

However, facing Haber who has lost his mind and fallen into a war frenzy, Cheng Nuo did not intend to persuade him bluntly, but continued to push forward: "The things in this room are just side dishes before our official cooperation. If we this time If the cooperation goes well, then if there is no accident, a large number of chemical weapons will be delivered soon."

Haber became more and more frantic: "When will it be delivered? Is it also in this place? Is it delivered in the form of a standard weapon, or will it be shipped in this barrel?"

Cheng Nuo didn't rush to answer Haber's question, but slowly pulled him back to the door, and said with a smile, "Before the formal cooperation, can we discuss the form of cooperation, or the issue of remuneration?"

"Remuneration, you actually talked about remuneration with me?" Haber took a step back, expressing surprise: "That is an honor bestowed by the emperor, an honor that countless Jews can't exchange for all their wealth, but now we only need to donate weapons, for us Said it was a dream come true.”

Cheng Nuo directly pushed Haber out of the door, and sneered in front of him: "So what, I'm not a Jew, and besides, our Great Japanese Empire has His Majesty the Emperor, who is not necessarily weaker than your Emperor William. He can't protect himself, let alone these honors?"

"Under the leadership of His Majesty, we will never fail!" Seeing that Cheng Nuo was about to be locked, Ha Bo was a little anxious, stomped his feet and hesitated, and said, "Tell me, what exactly must be done before you can accept the deal."

Cheng Nuo's tone suddenly softened, and he stopped locking the lock: "Money?"

Haber said anxiously: "We have this. Although the government is relatively short of money, our research institute has enough funds. Even if we can't afford it, the War Department can still consider it."

Unexpectedly, Cheng Nuo shook his head: "We are clear about your financial situation. If you force the transaction in marks, let alone whether you can afford such a large amount of funds, even if you can barely afford it, it must take a lot of effort. , as a business partner, I don't want to embarrass my friend."

Haber was very moved: "My dear friend, with these words, no matter whether the business is settled or not, I will recognize you as a friend."

Turning his head to look at the chemical weapons inside through the crack of the door, Haber swallowed hard, and added deliberately: "Of course, the business should be negotiated as much as possible!"

Cheng Nuo said boldly: "Of course, my dear Captain Haber, whoever dares to obstruct our business, I will definitely kick his ass hard with the sharpest leather shoes."

Haber agreed: "Yes, yes, I think so too. Anyone who hinders the progress of the German Empire should go to hell."

Cheng Nuo smiled and brought the topic to the main topic: "As friends, we have fully considered your country's difficulties and specially prepared a plan to purchase weapons with technology for you to choose from."

Haber hesitated: "Technology to buy weapons, what technology, is it also chemical weapons? If so, you don't need to ask others for permission. As long as you are willing, you can get the chemical technology of our research institute, but the premise is that you are ready. There are enough chemical weapons, and they are good enough."

Cheng Nuo's index finger flicked around his mouth: "Of course it's not that simple. What we think of is your country's 'Paris Cannon' production technology..."

Before Cheng Nuo could finish speaking, Haber stood up abruptly and flatly refused: "No, absolutely impossible, this is the highest-level weapon secret of our German Empire, even if we fight to the last, this weapon technology cannot be leaked .”

Cheng Nuo pressed, "Is there any room for turning around?"

Haber said firmly: "There will be no room for it."

Cheng Nuo didn't want to give up, but continued to test: "But as far as I know, the use of the Paris cannon is very cumbersome. You need to use an airplane to observe the impact point and calculate the shooting parameters through weather observation. In addition, you must also consider the earth. Curvature and the effect of the earth's rotation on shooting, etc., the shelling effect is very general..."

Haber shook his head: "No matter how many shortcomings you say, it cannot conceal that it is the cannon with the longest range in the world today. Compared with its practical value, its strategic value is more important."

Cheng Nuo smiled: "If we have the preparation technology of the French army's chemical weapon hydrogen chloride, and add this weight, how about we trade technology for technology?"

Unlike the previous corrosive agents (mustard gas/yellow cross agent) and asphyxiating agents, hydrogen chloride is a systemic poisoning agent, mainly represented by hydrocyanic acid and cyanogen chloride.

Its main working principle is that it combines with cytochrome oxidase after being inhaled through the respiratory tract, destroying the cellular respiration function and causing tissue hypoxia.Inhalation of high concentrations can lead to paralysis of the respiratory center and death very quickly.

After Germany put chemical weapons on the battlefield, France first used hydrogen chloride on the battlefield and achieved quite good results.

The pure product is a colorless liquid with a strong pungent smell, soluble in water, easily soluble in organic solvents such as alcohol, ether, gasoline, and miscible with toxic agents such as hydrocyanic acid and mustard gas.It is not easy to be adsorbed by activated carbon, and can be loaded into shells and rockets. It has high use value and caused the German army to suffer a lot on the battlefield.

Now after hearing Cheng Nuo's temptation, even as the father of chemical weapons, Haber still couldn't help being moved.

It's not that he can't make this thing, but that it needs a process to develop it, but the current situation of World War I obviously can't give him enough time, and having a finished formula can at least save a lot of time.

After struggling for a while, Haber hesitated and said: "But the technology of the Paris Cannon is managed by the Krupp factory. Although I am the director of a research institute, I can't encourage them to hand over the technology to you. Even if His Majesty speaks in person, It also takes a lot of work.”

Cheng Nuo was overjoyed, it's pretty good to have made this progress, not to mention that when he opened his mouth like a lion and said he wanted the technology of "Paris Cannon", he knew it was wishful thinking.

But still speaking it out is to reserve room for negotiation in advance.

As for the hydrogen chloride technology, although Cheng Nuo knew something, he got it from books.

Although under the leadership of Cheng Nuo, the country barely has some foundations in the chemical industry, but there is still a long way to go before mass production of hydrogen chloride.

And they are all mass-produced. I am afraid that the First World War is over. Maybe it will be in the hands of the end. It is better to take it out and exchange it for some practical things.

It's just that he didn't expect Haber to back down so quickly.

Cheng Nuo pretended to be very heartbroken: "Well, Captain Haber, I know your difficulties, and I took the initiative to take a step back and decided not to use the 'Paris Cannon' production technology."

Haber happily said, "Are you serious?"

Cheng Nuo pretended to sigh: "Friendship comes first, business comes second, let's let the cannon technology go first, but I have a request, that is, although I can not, but the whole production process must be let me watch it, let me go through it." Eye craving."

Haber didn't hesitate: "No problem, I can guarantee this."

Cheng Nuo added: "However, our domestic steelmaking technology is relatively backward, and we are really not satisfied with civilian use. Let's see if we can ask Captain Haber to come forward and introduce us to buy some steelmaking technology and Steelmaking equipment?"

Haber promised: "As long as military technology is not involved, these are minor problems."

Seeing Haber's ecstatic appearance, the corners of Cheng Nuo's mouth showed a curve that is not easy to detect by ordinary people.

Historically, it was precisely because Haber was too obsessed with the research and development of chemical weapons that he wanted Germany to win the First World War. After Germany was defeated, Haber was directly listed as a war criminal and would be tried by an international court.

Greedy for life and afraid of death, Haber had to grow a beard, disguise himself and fled to the neutral country of Switzerland at that time.

After the charges against him were dropped, he quietly returned to Germany to continue his research on chemical weapons. In the middle, he even specialized in a secret job in order to save the German economy, that is, to extract gold from seawater. Of course, it turned out that this was He looked away again.

The reason why Cheng Nuo pushed forward was also because he liked Haber as a talent. Not to mention the research on synthetic ammonia and chemical weapons, Haber's later contribution to pesticides alone was enough for Cheng Nuo to envy. .

In the face of absolute value, things like character are easy to say.

As for what the Japanese Watanabe Yinuo committed, what does it have to do with the Chinese Cheng Nuo? If you have anything to do, go to the Japanese government.

Anyway, in the eyes of these high-spirited foreigners, East Asians all look the same.

After the war, Cheng Nuo just waited to secretly take over the heinous Captain Haber.

Krupp, mentioned later, was one of the most famous military giants in the world before World War I. He started with forging knives, but later cooperated with Schneider (France), Skoda (Austro-Hungarian Empire), Mitsui (Japan), Vickers and Armstrong (UK)
Putilov (Russia), Terni and Ansaldo (Italy), and Bethlehem and DuPont (USA) are all famous and called "death merchants".

Right now, Cheng Nuo lacks an opportunity to contact Krupp. Through Haber's channel, he can get Krupp's steel technology as much as possible.

Not seeking the most advanced, only seeking the most applicable.

At the level of domestic heavy industry, superb technology means high cost of use, which is a burden for most enterprises.

As for the subsequent war of resistance against Japan, Cheng Nuo didn't expect much from Bald Jiang. After all, in those war years, it was a miracle in a sense that the domestic iron and steel enterprises in the rear were able to close down.

(End of this chapter)