Yongdingmen Station, built outside Beijing City, is the earliest terminal station on the Beijing-Fenghuang Railway.
Because the Qing Dynasty used the same old argument, saying that building a railway would destroy Feng Shui, and would never allow the railway to be built into the city of Beijing.
It wasn't until Lafayette took the emperor to Naian'an and the Eight-Nation Allied Forces entered Beijing City that the Western devils demolished a gap in the city wall and built the railway track all the way to Zhengyang Gate.
Yongdingmen Station was used until later generations, but it was renamed Beijingnan along the way.
At 6:26 in the morning, Chen Muwu boarded the seven local trains from Beijing to Shanhaiguan at Yongdingmen Station. It was not until 10:49 in the morning that he finally arrived at Lugu Station.
The journey by intercity high-speed rail only takes a little over half an hour, but it took him a full four and a half minutes.
Being bumpy on the track for such a long time made Chen Muwu sober up again. When he goes to Europe in the future, he must not choose to go north to Harbin and take the train across Siberia just to save time. He is afraid that he will have to wait until he reaches Lake Baikal. Confessed in the train carriage.
Not far from Lugu Station is the China Merchants Ship Terminal at Lugu Port. Lugu Port should be the busiest port in the entire north.
Every day, countless grains, tea, silk and opium shipped from the south are unloaded from here and shipped to Tianyang, Beijing and other parts of North China.
There are also countless carloads of coal transported from the Kaiping and Luanzhou coal mining companies in Lushan, abandoned here, loaded on ships, and shipped to various places in the south.
In this port where thousands of sails competed, among the cargo going up and down, Chen Muwu found that what was pulled off one ship was not the above-mentioned things related to people's livelihood issues such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Instead, it was pieces of goods that were curled and welded into a cylindrical shape. The iron sheet looks like a component of some equipment in a factory.
Is this a blast furnace? Or a reactor?
Things related to science immediately attracted Chen Muwu’s curiosity.
So he hurriedly stepped forward, helped hold the hand, and asked the dock workers who were shouting slogans to carry the luggage: "Excuse me, where are these goods going to be shipped?"
The dock worker who had nothing to offer raised his chin and pointed forward: "Sir, these are the goods from the Wynn Soda Plant in front of you. They have just been shipped from abroad. Don't touch these, just leave them and let me come."
He was afraid that the oil stains on the goods would stain Chen Muwu's clothes. The suit material looked expensive.
"It's okay, I'll just help you."
After helping the dock worker to lift the goods to the designated location, Chen Muwu declined the worker's thanks and left the dock, thinking carefully about the name Wynn Soda Plant.
Wynn...Alkali...
Wynn...
Alkali...
Fan Xudong broke the monopoly of foreign companies on the soda ash market!
The father of China's national chemical industry!
Oh my god, Chen Muwu originally thought of taking a boat home on a temporary basis, but he didn't expect to meet a big boss in Lugu.
Anyway, the ship doesn't leave until tomorrow. Since we're at someone else's door, why not pay a visit?
Yongli Soda Manufacturing Company was established as early as 1918, and began building a factory in Lugu, Tianyi in 1921.
Calculating time, it was not until this year that the mechanical equipment imported from abroad at Yongli Alkali Plant began to be gradually installed, and stand-alone test runs were successively carried out.
Next year, the equipment will start producing soda ash for the first time, but the first batch of products will not be soda ash as white as snow, but red and black, which cannot be sold. It was later discovered that these red and black impurities were rust in the reactor, dyeing the soda ash.
It would have to wait until 1926, three years later, when the Wynn Soda Manufacturing Company had thoroughly debugged its equipment and its Red Triangle brand soda ash became an instant hit, seizing a large chunk of the Japanese market from the British Benemann Company.
Chen Muwu was happy to see that Chinese people could make money from the Japanese, and he believed that the earlier the better, the more money should be made.
Calculating time, the current alkali production process of Yongli Soda Plant should be the Solvay alkali production process purchased from abroad at a large price, which is also commonly known as the ammonia-alkali process.
Yes, it was that Solvay. He made a huge fortune by monopolizing the alkali production method, so he had money to fund conferences held by physicists.
Every high school student has had the dream of walking around the venue with a pack of explosives. In that case, their physics textbook would be at least half as thin.
Are you considering leaking some secrets in advance to help Yongli Soda Plant understand the ultimate secret of soda production in advance?
Thinking of this, Chen Muwu walked in the direction pointed by the worker just now.
Because making alkali requires a lot of salt and a lot of water, the location of the alkali plant cannot be too far from the shore.
He walked less than a mile before he saw the gate of Yongli Soda Plant.
Although it is called an alkali factory, there is a bustling construction site inside the courtyard gate.
Workers were digging soil, driving piles, and some were transporting the steel materials that Chen Muwu just saw to the warehouse.
Chen Muwu learned wisely this time and was no longer as reckless as when he was working. He stopped a worker who had nothing in his hand and asked him where the factory director was.
"You want to find the factory director? Well, he's right there!"
Following the direction of the worker's finger, Chen Muwu saw a middle-aged man wearing work clothes and sweating profusely on the construction site.
If everyone hadn't told him, he might not have recognized that this man who was dressed exactly the same as the other workers was the factory director.
Chen Muwu stepped forward, cupped his hands and said, "Junior Chen Muwu, Director Fan, you are polite."
The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, then put down what he was doing, and said with a smile: "Sir, you have recognized the wrong person. Hou Debang, the Marquis of Min, who is now the director of Yongli Soda Plant, is not the Mr. Fan you are looking for. manager."
Hou Debang! Another big shot.
The Hou's method of making alkali that he developed has been included in history and chemistry textbooks.
The secret that Chen Muwu was thinking of leaking just now was referring to the famous Hou's method of making alkali.
In the face of these national heroes in history, Chen Muwu did not hesitate to express his admiration and respect: "It turns out to be Dr. Hou of Ge Da. He has admired his name for a long time and has lost his respect."
Hou Debang also graduated from Columbia University, the same school as Dr. Hu, but unlike Dr. Hu, he has successfully graduated and received his own doctorate certificate.
"You know me?"
Chen Muwu nodded: "I read your name in the newspaper."
"Coincidentally, I also saw Brother Hanchen's name in the newspaper. But I never thought that Chen Hanchen, who talked with Einstein in Baihai and gave lectures on the theory of relativity at Beijing University, would actually be like this Young, it is true that heroes have emerged from youth since ancient times!"
"Mr. Hou is so complimentary."
"Does Han Chen have anything to talk to General Manager Fan about during this trip?"
"It's nothing. I just went back to my hometown and passed by Lugu by boat. I accidentally learned that the Wynn Factory is next to the pier. I happen to be interested in this advanced chemical industry and want to know more about it, so I came to visit and ask for advice. .”
Hou Debang put down his work, explained a few precautions to others, and then welcomed Chen Muwu to an office building next to the construction site.
