Aluminum is indeed a very good material, and in the early years the price was almost the same as gold. It is said that the tableware used by Napoleon was made of aluminum, while everyone else used silver tableware.
Even the trophy awarded to Mendeleev by the Russian Tsar in 1889 was made of aluminum. It was almost towards the end of the nineteenth century that the cost of producing aluminum began to fall significantly.
However, overall, the real large-scale application of aluminum will not be realized until decades later. But this thing is indeed praised to the heavens, after all, it is still small.
At present, if it is really applied, it is only in the automobile industry. It should also be used in aircraft, but until World War I, aircraft were mainly made of wood, because in the early days, everyone did not think that aircraft could be used in the military.
It was almost until World War II that aluminum alloys began to be used on a large scale in aircraft. Of course, planes now have better materials.
Li Yu can indeed understand Zhang Zhidong's thoughts at this moment. After all, metal is too important for modern industry, but the production of aluminum is not actually very urgent.
But it does not matter if it can be produced earlier, and the demand is far less than that of steel. The electrolytic aluminum process is relatively mature and the product value is high. The value to the automobile industry alone is worth producing, and it can even produce considerable benefits.
In addition, Li Yu felt that based on the current situation, the Hanyang Iron Factory was close to the Hanyang Arsenal and the Iron and Steel Factory, and was producing gunpowder at the same time. Naturally, he would not use munitions, but in fact there was something very close to some materials used in munitions. .
When Zhang Zhidong heard that Li Yu said that aluminum could be made, he was cheered up and asked, "Will smelting aluminum be as difficult as smelting iron?" Li Yu said, "Back to Mr. Zhang, the production of aluminum mainly requires electricity, so I think adults can first support the power company as appropriate." Zhang Zhidong said in surprise: "Electricity? I know this. But why is electricity needed? Isn't it like ironmaking?" Li Yu explained: "The production process of aluminum is not Same, it requires the use of electricity. And when it comes to the foundation of industry, it is not steel. Strictly speaking, it is electricity." Zhang Zhidong touched his beard: "Electricity? When I was working in Guangzhou, Timothy Richard brought me I came across a generator and lit up hundreds of light bulbs. It felt very fresh. Listen to me, besides lighting, what else can electricity be used for?" The first lamp in Guangzhou's history was indeed built by Zhang Zhidong. Lights up during official hours.
However, it is obvious that the Chinese people at this time knew too little about electricity. After all, they could not see or touch it. No, I was shocked when I touched it... Li Yu said: "Industrial civilization is basically based on electricity, and it can do too many things." Zhang Zhidong thought thoughtfully,
"So, without electricity, there is no aluminum?"
"Yes!" Li Yu nodded vigorously,
"On the other hand, with electricity, there are many other things. Needless to say, foreigners cannot live without electricity."
"It turns out that foreigners value electricity so much," Zhang Zhidong clenched his fist.
"That's fine, I know you understand Western learning, and I must adopt your suggestion. Isn't it just a power plant? I've seen this before, and I can do it!" Li Yu said, "Your Excellency is wise." Not counting the Hankou Concession. In other words, it was almost three years later, in 1906, that Wuhan officially had a power generation company.
But the sooner you get this thing, the better, and the more power it generates, the better. It is enough to have an installed capacity of 10,000 to 20,000 kilowatts now, but it cannot be compared with the 2 to 3 million kilowatts installed capacity in Wuhan a hundred years from now.
Moreover, Wuhan is close to the Yangtze River and has a developed water system, so it can fully utilize hydropower. In fact, the first electric power company in Wuhan used hydropower.
Speaking of which, if electrolytic aluminum is really produced using water and electricity, it will be really environmentally friendly... You must know that Li Yugang was
Before "electricity" reached this era, we had already begun to consider using more water and electricity in the electrolytic aluminum industry. After all, carbon emissions are low.
It's just that at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there was no need to think so much. After all, there was only a small demand for electricity.
Nowadays, water and electricity are only half-measured. Li Yu said: "In addition, Mr. Zhang, I think you can also consider the production of chemical fertilizers." Zhang Zhidong heard this word for the first time: "Chemical fertilizers?"
"It's fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, chemical fertilizer for short." Li Yu said.
"Fertilizer?" Zhang Zhidong asked again,
"Is it used for fertilization?" Li Yu said, "Yes. I see that our iron factory is next to an arsenal and a steel chemical factory. I think the materials can also be used to produce nitrogen fertilizer." Zhang Zhidong didn't know why: "That's okay too. ? What are you doing producing fertilizer? I once went to the fields and saw that the villagers were all using farmyard fertilizer." Li Yu said with a smile: "That's not enough. If you can use chemical fertilizers, you can increase the output by at least half." Zhang Zhidong was surprised. He said: "Increase production by half?!" Li Yu said: "Yes, this is the power of modern industry." Li Yu could only mention this to Zhang Zhidong.
Because in fact, most senior officials in the late Qing Dynasty did not pay much attention to agricultural production. This was what local officials, that is, county magistrates, valued most.
After all, land tax is the county magistrate's largest source of income. According to official rules, no one dares to touch this income.
Senior officials all know what the officials below are doing: using all kinds of strange means to raise food prices.
In the past, local officials would kick the rice container. This kick reflected the local officials' housekeeping skills. Once the kick was kicked, there would be less grain.
But by the late Qing Dynasty, local officials had directly fought against each other, which was almost equivalent to an open robbery. They don't ask for rice directly, but convert it into silver and hand it over.
The operating space here is much larger than a kick. For example, one tael of silver was originally equivalent to 100 kilograms of rice, but local officials directly increased it to 5 taels of silver for 100 kilograms of rice.
The profit margins that have quadrupled are used by officials to line their own pockets. What is it if it's not an open grab?
This is the late Qing Dynasty
"Love the people as sons"
"Parent Officer". But the officials at the top will basically not care about it, because most county magistrates have to pay filial piety through various charcoal and ice honors.
This is a chronic disease in the officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty, and it is a late-stage malignant tumor that cannot be cured. Of course, in addition to this, the late Qing government suffered from many terminal cancers, and they were already terminally ill and at the mercy of others.
Since land tax is very critical, even local officials who are usually kind-hearted can be very ruthless when it comes to collecting money and grain.
There were two people in the Qing Dynasty who were particularly good at keeping diaries. One was the famous Zeng Guofan, who wrote almost 1.3 million words.
The other one is a county magistrate in Guangdong, named Du Fengzhi. This guy is even more ruthless. He has been a county magistrate for 14 years and wrote a diary of 4 million words!
Regarding the history of the late Qing Dynasty, these are very precious and authentic historical materials. Because they are written by myself, they are relatively private and do not consider too many other factors.
Even though Du Fengzhi is a county magistrate praised by local people, his annual income is more than 20,000 taels of silver.
Usually he treats the people pretty well, but when it comes to collecting food, he becomes a completely different person.
Because the collection of land tax is not only closely related to their income, but also a direct source of financial resources; the penalties for failure to collect taxes are also very severe: those who fail to collect 10% of the taxes will not be allowed to be promoted and will be fined for one year; those who fail to collect 50% of the taxes will be fined for one year. Will be dismissed.
Du Fengzhi himself said that one-third of his time every year is spent collecting land taxes. But the people are miserable and generally cannot pay food on time.
Du Fengzhi led the grain collection team to collect food in various places. The grain collection team included grain bookkeepers, grain messengers, bookkeepers, committee members, masters, officials, relatives, etc., as well as more than 100 people including sedan bearers, Yamen servants, and Zhuangyong. Sweeping the countryside with mighty force.
Du Fengzhi wrote in his diary that sometimes when he sent someone to the village, he was kicked out by the villagers with urine and feces. Then the grain collection team would arrest the person. If they couldn't catch him, they would arrest his wife and children, or move the furniture away, and then set the house on fire. Establish authority.
This trick is very cruel. When the villagers see their houses burned down, they will honestly pay the money and grain in exchange for returning their families, and then ask for their large furniture back. They will also obediently pay the grain tax in the future.
But the people didn't have much inventory. Nowadays, rural areas basically use farmyard manure, that is, organic fertilizer. Although it is quite healthy, we don’t eat much to begin with, and we can only poop as much as we can.
If we could produce chemical fertilizers and increase production, the people would at least be able to live a better life. Although the raw materials for other chemical fertilizers such as potassium fertilizer are indeed difficult to obtain, phosphorus fertilizer and nitrogen fertilizer can always be obtained.
Let’s talk about nitrogen fertilizer first. Ammonium nitrate is also used in the arsenal’s production of gunpowder. This kind of thing is a typical example of an angel and a devil.
On the one hand, it can make nitrogen fertilizer to solve human food problems; on the other hand, it can make explosives to destroy the world.
Of course, there are many ways to make nitrogen fertilizer. After all, this stuff is the number one fertilizer consumed by humans.
As for phosphate fertilizer, it’s a matter of competition over who has the mines. Coincidentally, China’s phosphate mines are in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Hubei.
In short, nitrogen fertilizer and phosphate fertilizer are our specialties, and there is no shortage of resources. Potassium fertilizer is a bit troublesome to talk about, you need to use potassium salt.
This thing is distributed very concentratedly, mainly in Canada, Russia, and Belarus, and our country and the United States have less of it than those three countries.
Basically, the world's potash is in the hands of these five countries. But the main ones are Canada, Da Mao and Ermao. Later, when Russia was sanctioned by the West, it had four trump cards in its hand, including oil, natural gas, grain, and fertilizer.
When it was first said that Western fertilizers might not be exported, the West was so frightened that even the United Nations was afraid that Mao would become impatient and refuse to export, triggering a global food crisis.
Anyway, fertilizer is a seemingly inconspicuous thing, but it is actually very critical. As for the food war in later generations, it is really a battlefield without smoke.
One more thing, our potash exploration is really as tragic a history as the original exploration of oil.
Until the 1990s, we basically relied on imported potassium salt, and then organized a large number of scientific researchers to search for potassium salt across the country.
Fortunately, we have a vast territory. Thanks to the sacrifices of countless martyrs and through untold hardships, we finally found them in Xinjiang and Qinghai. They are mainly concentrated in Qaidam and Lop Nur, and 80% of them are in Qinghai.
There is a movie "Life and Death in Lop Nur", which is about this matter. But even so, we still rely on imports for half of our potash fertilizer. Fortunately, our relations with Russia and Russia are now very good, so there is no need to worry.
On the contrary, Europe is now the wronged country, because there was no natural gas and now there is no fertilizer, so it can only import.
It is completely cheap for Lao America, and it is selling gas and fertilizer, and it is hard to make as much money as you want. This is something to say later. In short, a thousand words can be said. Don’t underestimate the seemingly inconspicuous chemical fertilizers. They can contribute 40% to 60% of today’s food production.
In other words, without chemical fertilizers, food production would be reduced by about half. Of course, it can also be understood that with the use of chemical fertilizers, grain production can be doubled.
