Lord of the Desert

Chapter 585 Electrolysis
The 35th year of Zhenghe, the seventh day of the first month.

At the beginning of the You hour (5 PM), Xijing was shrouded in the languid sunlight.

The Yao River flows quietly on tiptoe, its surface covered with a layer of mist.

In Room A, on the top floor of Qixia Residence in Wangjiang Lane, the setting sun shone through the wide-open window, illuminating the gold and silver porcelain cups on the round table.

"Over the years, among our peers in Xijing, your family has made the most of your fortune. I've heard that you've been expanding your sect on Zhixin Mountain every year, and now you have over a thousand disciples. It's truly enviable!"

The words were addressed to Zou Jian'an, the leader of the Golden Magnetic Sect.

The speaker, with white hair and beard, appeared to be in his sixties. He was Wu Chonggu, the head of the Feixia Sect and a master of the Four Directions of the Innate Realm.

"Our humble sect's modest achievements are entirely due to the care and protection of Governor Hong."

Zou Jian'an cupped his hands in greeting to the person at the head of the table, unable to hide his smile.

"To put it nicely, Zou is now practicing laissez-faire governance; to put it bluntly, he's just occupying a position without doing any work."

Hong Fan smiled and nodded in response.

"Sect Leader Zou is able to govern by doing nothing because he has trained outstanding disciples. Supervisor Cao's cultivation has improved significantly, he governs effectively, and he is also a close friend of Governor Hong..."

Wu Chonggu then looked at Cao Hanhai.

"I can only envy the fact that the Golden Magnetic Sect has such talented successors."

"Sect Leader Wu is too kind; the sect is currently very busy with affairs, and I am also overwhelmed and struggling to manage them."

Cao Hanhai feigned distress.

"Sometimes when I work non-stop for a long time, I feel more like a shopkeeper than a martial artist."

Everyone laughed upon hearing this.

Now that Cao Hanhai's cultivation has reached the Innate Three Harmonies stage, he has been promoted to the position of Supervisor, second only to the Sect Leader in power, and is a shoo-in for the next Sect Leader.

But jokes often conceal truths that one cannot say in ordinary times.

Zou Jian'an is 101 years old this year. He is old and has long since given up his ambition to compete. He only wishes for the sect to develop steadily and grow in scale. Cao Hanhai, on the other hand, is only 30 years old and has his own ambition to reach new heights.

Compared to aristocratic families, martial arts sects have no blood ties, and the loyalty of their members comes entirely from long-term upbringing and obedience. Although the number of members in the Golden Magnetic Sect has increased several times over, the lives, training, and promotions of most disciples are completed by the Kaiming Bank. Its influence on the middle and lower classes is becoming increasingly limited, to the point that any major actions must first be discussed with Qian Hong and other senior executives of the business.

How could things have deteriorated to this point?
Cao Hanhai occasionally recalls the autumn of five years ago, when he savored the plump crabs of Yaohe River amidst the magnificent scenery of geese flying south, and listened to Hong Fan describe his idea of ​​"mobile internship".

A sense of superiority, stemming from being asked to do something for someone, still lingered on his reputation as a top talent. He was somewhat smug at the time, even hoping to embellish the rising fame of Kaiming Bank with some of the influence of Jincimen...

Unfortunately, five years have passed, and no Jinci faction has emerged under Hong Fan's command. Instead, a Hong faction has appeared within the Jinci Sect.

Although several elders, led by Yin Yizhen, lived and ate at Zhixin Mountain, they actually resided at Kaiming Bank, leading outsiders to jokingly remark that the once-powerful Xijing Sect had degenerated into a private school for a merchant guild.

[How ridiculous! A great sect with a history of 150 years, hundreds of arrogant martial artists, are bound hand and foot by mere gold and silver, even having to hand over the "Iron Hand Technique"...]

Cao Hanhai leaned back in his seat, his mind elsewhere.

Yin Yizhen, however, spoke with an arrogant tone.

"In the past two years, the company has added two more factories, producing two thousand rifles, twenty heavy cannons, and countless gunpowder bullets every month, with a monthly turnover of nearly 50,000 strings of cash."

She held the wine cup between her fingertips, as if she were talking about her own family.

"Production capacity is still insufficient, and manpower is severely lacking. This morning I was discussing with the sect leader the need to open the mountain gates wider and lower the tuition fees further..."

The Golden Magnetic Sect leader and elders beamed with pride, creating a harmonious and joyful atmosphere at the banquet.

"Elder Yin is right. This is precisely the practice of the ancient sages' admonition of 'education for all'."

Cao Hanhai praised him, swallowing all his reverie.

There were three knocks on the door.

The waiter pushed open the door, and hot dishes were served.

The finest aged wine from Qixiaju quickly brought a pleasant buzz. "Eek, ee-yo-yo..."

The boatmen's chants drifted from afar, mingling with the sound of steam whistles rolling across the river.

Hong Fan could see the resentment his old friend was suppressing, but he had no time to pay attention to it.

He got up and paced to the window, looking towards Xijing, which was in the thirty-fifth year of the Zhenghe era.

The riverside street beneath our feet has been widened to six zhang (approximately 33 meters), with the middle reserved for the railcars under construction, and the sides for pedestrians, sedan chairs, and horse-drawn carriages.

The cast iron lamps, about two zhang tall, are set up at intervals along the underground gas pipeline. The tops are covered with hexagonal enamel lampshades, and the bases are inlaid with brass nameplates indicating the manufacturing date and maintenance workshop.

The work chants come from the diagonally oriented canal area.

Old-fashioned cargo wharves stand side by side with newly built steam wharves; two fixed boom cranes line up along the river, squeezing out twenty times the loading and unloading speed of manpower from burning coal.

Hong Fan stared intently at the lotus pattern stamped on the crane's exterior across the vast sky, until another brass whistle sounded from across the river.

Half-hidden behind countless black-tiled roofs, steam trains running along the eastern part of the city sped by like a line, their vermilion-painted chimneys resembling the rapidly pumping new blood of Xi'an; while far beyond the city walls, the twelve main chimneys of the Tiannanxing new factory area spewed out coal smoke day and night, turning half of the blue sky gray and yellow.

Transportation became more convenient and produce became more abundant, but the colors of people's clothing also changed from light to more durable navy blue and brown...

History rolls ever onward, and new things, whether good or bad, are accepted by the times.

Hong Fan walked back to the main seat with his hands behind his back.

"We invited Master Shi here today because we have important matters to discuss."

He sat down casually and looked at the short, stocky old man standing next to him.

This man's surname is Shi and his given name is Meng. He is over ninety years old and has strong arms that fill out his brocade robe. He is the Supreme Elder of the Feixia Sect, whose status is even higher than that of the sect leader.

He earned the resounding title of "thunderous reputation" by relying on his swift archery skills, which he had mastered from the "Azure Thunder Divine Arrow Manual".

"Old Wen, you tell us."

Hong Fan gestured for them to proceed.

The room fell silent.

"You may have heard of aluminum. Some fashionable and wealthy families in Zhanzhou use it to make tableware."

Wen Zhongguan took over the conversation.

"This metal has a density one-third that of iron, excellent corrosion resistance, superb processing performance, is non-toxic and non-flammable, and its strength after alloying can approach that of structural steel. It has a very wide range of industrial applications. In my early years, I made a little name for myself in Xi'an by making airplanes. To my shame, nowadays airplanes are at best just kites with power sources, but if there is enough aluminum, its prospects are immeasurable."

When asked about his life's pride, Wen Zhongguan couldn't help but get emotional.

"So what does this have to do with the Flying Cloud Sect?"

Shi Meng replied expressionlessly.

He had indeed witnessed the flight tests of the Equipment Works Bureau—starting with the earliest Jin Hai from Wen Zhong Guan, the Bureau's aircraft had now undergone dozens of iterations, with tests conducted every month, and the people of Xijing were already used to it—but he didn't think that such a barely manned aircraft could have any practical use.

"As mentioned above, aluminum has a wide range of uses, but currently it can only be produced by reducing aluminum chloride with metallic sodium, which is a complex and extremely expensive process."

Upon hearing this, Wen Zhongguan immediately replied, regardless of whether the others could understand him.

Or perhaps it was precisely because others couldn't understand that he was more interested in explaining in detail.

"Fortunately, last year we made great progress in the new electrolysis process that we had been exploring for a long time, and Tianpeng Mountain happens to have high-quality bauxite."

"My meeting with Mr. Shi today is to discuss cooperation with your organization to mass-produce aluminum using the electrolytic method."

Dahua had long possessed the theory of electromagnetic induction, and the Imperial Workshop of Shenjing also had a mature gold and silver electroplating process, which, while satisfying the needs of the imperial family, was also widely sold to aristocratic families in various regions.

Among the various foundations needed to start the electrolysis industry, Tiannanxing's weakest point is power generation, which is precisely where Lei Xingwuzhe can come in handy.

(End of this chapter)