Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1451 High-Tech Tree Planting (4k)

"Oh, okay. Just remember to save it for me when you think it's appropriate." He Wu fully understood that Lou Shouxing had his own plans.

Despite her fierce words, she herself knew that this product was a revolutionary and highly effective innovation in the field of living room entertainment.

It would be strange if Zhenxing Electric Power Group didn't have its own plans for launching a new product of this caliber.

Lou Shouxing nodded: "I understand, don't worry."

This year there is the Bailing Consumer Electronics Show, and he plans to put this product at the Bailing Electronics Show. As the largest consumer electronics show in the West and even the world, it is the best stage for this epoch-making entertainment product to be launched.
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In the Northwest, in a vast desert with layers upon layers of sand dunes, a team of comrades is moving forward.

The single-cylinder diesel hand tractor made a "putt-putt-putt" sound, rhythmically emitting plumes of black smoke as it moved forward through a large mesh structure.

The tractor was quite noisy and bumpy, but the people on it didn't seem to care at all.

Besides the tractor driver, three women sat in the seat behind him. This was the best seat on the tractor besides the driver.

Several men sat in the back of the tractor, bouncing rhythmically up and down along with the saplings and a pile of tin buckets in the back.

"Captain, these straw checkerboards are very effective at controlling desertification. They're the perfect size and have basically fixed the sand in place."

A member of the planting team looked on with excitement as he watched the patches of grass spreading outwards from both sides of the road.

The effectiveness of using straw checkerboard sand-fixing means that many things can be done next. At the very least, this road in the desert has been preserved.

With roads, more work can be carried out gradually. Compared to people slowly carrying things across the desert, tractors are undoubtedly much more efficient.

In more challenging areas, there are even more unique and effective means of transportation, but these are produced in small quantities and are expensive, making them somewhat wasteful to use in areas where roads are already largely in place.

As the tractor moved forward, not only grass checkerboards appeared on both sides of the road, but trees also began to appear. Although they did not look tall and were still seedlings, at least they were green, which was exceptionally dazzling in this desert where even the grass checkerboards were yellow.

"We've arrived, comrades, let's get to work!"

The captain jumped out of the car, and following his orders, the team members each carried their own tools and materials and headed towards the end of that green expanse.

Their task is to continue planting trees.

"Comrades, I won't say more. I'll just repeat what I said before: the depth must be sufficient! If the depth is insufficient, even with high technology, these saplings will still find it difficult to survive for long."

"Understood! Don't worry, Captain!" The comrades were full of energy, brimming with optimism and fearlessness.

“Okay, I’ll go check on the trees from a few days ago.” The team leader, carrying a satchel, trudged forward. Unlike his teammates who worked on the spot, he had to walk a much farther distance back to the saplings planted days or even longer ago to collect and record relevant data.

Although the grass lattice held the quicksand in place, his progress was still somewhat difficult.

He had to be very careful not to trample on the grass grates. These grates were all shoveled into the sand by his comrades, which took a lot of effort, and the team leader couldn't bear to damage even a single one.

I heard from my superiors that mechanized grass-rolling equipment is now being put into use. People just need to lay the grass on the ground, and the grass roller can roll the grass into the sand to the specified depth, which saves a lot of effort and speeds up the process considerably.

The only problem is whether there will be a diesel supply; otherwise, the comrades will have to make it by hand. In this vast desert, the most reliable power source is those seemingly clumsy and stupid single-cylinder diesel engines.

However, the team leader wasn't too worried about it. If there was no oil, they could just continue working manually; that's how they'd always managed before.

The size of these straw grates is regulated; they are the most effective size for preventing wind erosion and fixing sand dunes. However, unfortunately for those walking on them, each step is too small, while two steps are too many, making it quite uncomfortable to walk on.

For the captain, these are not problems; he's already used to them.

As he walked, he looked at the signs hanging on the saplings that had survived. Some signs had been blown away by the strong wind, but some were still there, allowing him to identify the specific planting dates.

Finally, he stopped. Yes, this is it. Further ahead, there's no need for testing. The saplings have already been confirmed to be able to absorb the little bit of moisture deep in the desert and have survived completely, with a very high survival rate.

He opened his satchel, took out a set of equipment, which was an aluminum alloy box with a display screen and buttons on the back, and then connected it to another black plastic box with a wire.

The captain then took out something that looked like a needle and used the threads on the front and back of these needles to connect them one by one, eventually forming two long needles. He then screwed these two long needles parallel to each other onto the black plastic box.

With a gentle push, he inserted the two long needles into the sand next to a sapling, then waited a while before pressing a few buttons on the aluminum box.

One minute later, the aluminum alloy box beeped, and a green LED light lit up.

"Data is out!" The team leader pressed the save button on the aluminum alloy box, storing the measurement time and data into the portable soil moisture sensor.

Then he took out a pen and a notebook and carefully wrote down the data on the paper. A bad pen is worse than a good memory; although he had advanced equipment, he always felt it was safer to do it this way.

After recording the data, he checked it and a look of delight appeared on his face.

"Hmm, it's still quite moist. It's amazing that it can retain shallow moisture in this weather. These scientists are truly amazing!"

Although regulations require digging to a certain depth, this depth is still considered shallow. Under normal circumstances, with such high evaporation rates in the desert, it wouldn't retain much water.

This is the "high-tech" method he just mentioned to his comrades. It is through this method that the survival rate of these saplings is so high.

He packed up his things and started walking back, repeating the same steps every so often, until he reached his comrades' work area.

They didn't really need this data, but they heard that the researchers needed it. While the team leader was taking back the data, the comrades were planting trees, but this kind of tree planting was quite different from what most people imagine.

After digging the sand pit, they first opened the tin bucket they brought from the tractor, took out some white, sand-like stuff and put it into the pit, then planted the saplings in this "white sand," covered it with another layer of sand, poured some water on it, and then backfilled the sand to the specified height.

They used this "white sand" very carefully, afraid of wasting a single grain. Correspondingly, they used far less water to irrigate it than when they used to plant trees in the desert.

By the time he caught up with his comrades, who had already advanced a bit further, it was almost noon. The desert sun was still scorching in spring. The comrades had already set up a tarpaulin on the tractor and were resting under it.

There's no way to work at noon; the comrades need to rest until the afternoon so they can work a little longer before the temperature drops sharply after sunset.

Seeing the team leader return, a team member stepped forward to take his bag. Compared to the comrades who were working on the spot, the team leader was much more tired this time, and the portable monitoring equipment was quite heavy, mainly because the battery was very heavy.

"Captain, how's the situation?"

They also care a lot about the results of their previous work.

"The situation is very good. Just as the forestry technicians who came for training said, the water loss is very slow, which can provide sufficient water for the seedlings until they are truly rooted in the aquifer."

Deserts also have aquifers, although they are deep and the water content is not high, they can still provide enough water for those resilient plants such as poplar and saxaul.

"Really? That's great!" This wasn't the first time they'd heard of this, since this high-tech tree-planting method had been promoted for some time now, but hearing this good news every day, and with such consistent success, still made the team members very happy.

"Pay attention, these 'dry water' must not be wasted or lost. Although they look like sand, each bucket of dry water actually has about the same water content as a bucket of water."

Everyone knows how precious water is in the desert.

"Don't worry, Captain, we're being careful," the comrades replied with smiles.

To be honest, the comrades were both excited and proud to see and use such a magical thing.

This stuff is amazing! In the past, who could have imagined that there was such a magical "water"?
It's dry, easy to carry, and evaporates slowly, providing long-term water for plants. Even if it falls on the ground, you can pick it up and continue using it, unlike ordinary water, which is lost if dropped in the desert.

"Here you go, Captain, lunch is ready. Have one." A comrade handed over a box, still steaming hot.

"Stir-fried noodles with pickled mustard greens and shredded pork? I don't want to eat that today. Do you have fried rice with shredded pork in a fish-fragrant sauce flavor?"

“Yes, yes, here it is,” another comrade laughed.

A group of people ate steaming self-heating meals under a tarpaulin, chatting and laughing. Their voices carried far, adding a touch of life to the gloomy desert. Behind them, rows of green saplings swayed in the wind.

While both are for water retention, they have different uses in different contexts.

"Mr. Pierre, where did you find this?" In the somewhat dilapidated cosmetics headquarters laboratory of the Gauls, two cosmetics researchers surrounded a man with several sheets of paper on their faces, their expressions filled with ecstasy.

"That's a secret, gentlemen, but you must first tell me whether this stuff is useful for our products?"

"It's incredibly effective, and has amazing results! This powdery material has excellent moisturizing properties without causing some of the problems associated with common moisturizing ingredients. It even allows non-liquid products to moisturize, which is revolutionary!" If it didn't work, we wouldn't have surrounded you like this.

“Very good, then you can consider developing a new variety or even a new series. As for the supply of this material, I will take care of it.” Mr. Pierre smiled smugly.

Those Easterners are really wasting their opportunity by using this to plant trees...

To be honest, for Mr. Pierre, whose company's products were declining in the West and who was turning to the East to seek opportunities amid the recent surge in business dealings with Easterners, this trip to the East was not very satisfying.

In that country, you can't see your users for a short period of time; they have completely different habits and atmosphere.

However, when he learned of the existence of this material from the people of the East, he knew his opportunity had come.

It's not about selling your products to people in the East, but about using their technology to revitalize your company in the Western world. This is far more important than selling cosmetics to people in the East, at least in the foreseeable future.

As for how he learned of the existence of this material, it was because although the comrades in the Ministry of Foreign Trade were unclear about the uses of the "dry water" material, they clearly recorded Gao Zhendong's words at the time.

So when they met the cosmetics merchant from Gaul, although they couldn't buy anything from Monsieur Pierre, they wanted to sell something to him.

So they presented the test report for the dried water. They even used the special uses of dried water in planting trees in desert and Gobi regions as an example to strengthen their argument.

Regardless of whether you're conserving water for people or trees, just ask yourself if you've actually saved it. Those who aren't familiar with cosmetics tend to have rather simple ideas.

Pierre immediately realized the product's uniqueness and its immense value to him. He took the inspection report provided by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and flew back to Gaul without delay, seeing it as his only chance to turn his life around.

He didn't even dare to send the report back to the company via mail or telecommunications for evaluation by the company's researchers. Instead, he preferred to pay the expensive round-trip airfare to bring it back himself. Heaven knows how many people would spy on the mail or telegram en route, or how it might be leaked; he didn't dare to gamble.

Unfortunately, apart from this test report, no matter how eloquently Pierre spoke, the Easterners provided him with nothing else, not even the ingredients or the process, let alone samples.

Good heavens, who says Easterners are easy to fool? Anyone who says that to me again, I'll send them to meet Louis XVI!

After receiving a positive response from his researchers, Pierre was caught in a happy dilemma.

(End of this chapter)