Become a feudal king from today - #896 - Chapter 910 Metal

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Qin Shan and Guan Tong paid military salutes and turned to leave.

From now on, they will have sole control of the military.

After the two left, Zhao Xu looked at Chang Wei, “Are any other generals upset?”

“No, military merit is the most important thing in the army, and you have to be able to be emotional when you are angry.” Chang Wei said.

Zhao Xu nodded and returned to the topic. He said, “My king has ordered Xu Ke to send people to sneak into the five southeastern countries of Jiaozhi, Nanzhang, Funan, Piaoman, and Siam to obtain information about the five countries and survey the terrain at the same time.”

Clearing his throat, he continued: “Although I can provide you with a rough map of the Five Kingdoms, it cannot be comprehensive. The actual situation needs to be grasped personally. After returning, you order the garrison of Jiaozhou and Yunzhou. Contact the people in the fourth hospital and provide support if necessary.”

Just like the saying “The sea has changed forever”.

Over time, much of the terrain will change.

Maybe this place used to be a swamp, but now it’s a desert.

Therefore, before every war, he required the army to survey the terrain in advance and not rely entirely on the sand table and map he gave.

The mountains and rivers may not change, but the paths, lakes, and forests will.

When quelling the civil strife in Dasong, Chang Wei and the others had been in the army for a long time and were familiar with the terrain in Dasong, so they did not suffer from the terrain issue.

But when you go south to the five southeastern countries, the situation is different.

It is mountainous and full of primitive jungles.

Miasma, swamps, poisonous insects and beasts abound.

If you enter hastily, the non-combat attrition will be huge.

You must find out in advance.

After all, according to his calculations, the Western-Turkish Allied Forces will arrive in Tianzhu soon, or have already arrived in Tianzhu.

They spend a lot of time on expeditions and will not give up until they achieve their strategic goals.

Therefore, there must be war in the south!

The five southeastern countries controlled by the Westerners were like a sword against Da Song’s abdomen, making it difficult for him to sleep or eat well.

Regardless of whether the Western Turks would attack from the direction of Jiaozhi and Piaoman, he would drive the Western Turks out of the Five Kingdoms.

Restore Dasong’s influence over the five countries.

“I will finally understand.” Chang Wei said seriously.

The two talked about things in the army again, and Chang Wei went back.

Zhao Xu also left the study and headed towards the research and development institute.

Since formulating the two-step strategy, he has been focusing on the military to deal with the upcoming foreign war, while also personally participating in the wave of the second industrial revolution.

When dealing with government affairs every day, he is the King of Yan.

During the rest of the time, he became a researcher at the Research Institute.

Whether it was physics, chemistry, or materials, he actively participated in every experiment.

In addition to the research and development institutes led by Wang Chong and Qu Sheng, he also went to the research and development institutes under the War Department and the Ship Department Research and Development Institute every now and then.

Work with them to overcome the technical challenges they face today.

Although the drawings are mature, it still takes a lot of effort to create the actual object.

“Your Highness, the large electrolyzer has been prepared.”

As soon as Zhao Xu arrived at the research and development institute, Qu Sheng immediately greeted him with an excited expression.

After the thermal power generation test was successful, Qu Sheng was even more excited than Wang Chong and others.

In the past, many chemicals could not be prepared due to crude conditions.

Now, the preparation of chemicals has entered an explosive period.

Because after the fire test, the test generator set stayed in the Ru0026D Institute.

Wang Chong also specially laid wiring for the chemical laboratory.

Just after the power lines were laid, Qu Sheng began experiments with electrolyzed water and produced hydrogen and oxygen for the first time.

Not satisfied with the electrolysis experiments in the laboratory, he worked with researchers to prepare a large-scale electrolytic cell.

“Really? Let me have a look.” Zhao Xu smiled.

The two of them arrived at the back of the Ru0026D Institute, where there was a row of yards.

Among them, Wang Chong was in charge of the east side and Qu Sheng was in charge of the west side.

Entering Courtyard No. 8, Zhao Xu saw a square electrolytic tank that was similar to a pool.

There is a partition in the middle of the electrolytic tank, and wires are connected to both ends.

Generally speaking, the principle of electrolyzer is similar to that of battery.

One side is the positive pole and the other is the negative pole.

The only difference is the middle barrier, which separates the positive electrode area and the negative electrode area so that the required substances can be electrolyzed from different electrode sides.

“In this way, can we conduct experiments on electrolytic magnesium and aluminum?” Zhao Xu asked.

Electrolyzers have little technical content, so his focus is naturally not on electrolyzers.

Instead, after building a large electrolytic tank, some special metals can be prepared in small quantities.

For example, magnesium powder and aluminum powder are necessary for making flares.

With them, a flare can illuminate an area with a radius of one kilometer, making it impossible for enemies attacking at night to hide.

In the next war with the Western Turks, the Western Turks’ muskets and artillery did not have an advantage.

If he were the opponent’s general, he would definitely make good use of night battles and use the darkness to offset the advantages of their guns and artillery.

This is when flares come into play.

Historically, any technological upgrade was often used in the military immediately.

He is not exempt from vulgarity.

The reason is obvious. If you cannot protect yourself militarily, you cannot conduct scientific research with peace of mind.

“Okay, the materials have been prepared and can be carried out at any time.” Qu Sheng said.

Zhao Xu nodded, “The prepared magnesium and aluminum must be stored and delivered to the Department of War.”

To extract magnesium, magnesite is needed, and to extract aluminum, bauxite is needed.

During his war, the prospecting department had been looking for mineral deposits according to the mineral map he gave him.

Both mineral deposits have been discovered.

After talking about this, Qu Sheng called the researcher in charge of the electrolysis test and conducted electrolysis in front of Zhao Xu.

After a while, a lot of silver magnesium metal appeared in the electrolyzer.

After the magnesium is removed, some aluminum is electrolytically extracted.

Both metals obtained are fist-sized.

“Then distill them at high temperature, cool and collect them, and you can get magnesium powder and aluminum powder.” Qu Sheng dragged the magnesium particles with one hand and the aluminum particles with the other, with a smile on his face.

Zhao Xu took it and nodded slightly.

He is interested in the production of magnesium and aluminum, and not just because they can be used to make flares.

In fact, the industrial value of these two metals is greater.

The combination of magnesium and aluminum can replace many rare metals, such as titanium, zirconium, uranium, beryllium, etc.

With them, it will be a matter of course for the Ru0026D Institute to obtain other metals in the future.

These rare metals will promote the development of alloy steel.

Furthermore, the alloy of magnesium and aluminum is light in weight and high in hardness. Just the two of them are very valuable.

In the future, they will be used in cars, planes, ships and various weapons.

After excitedly discussing the electrolyzed magnesium and aluminum for a while, Zhao Xu asked Qu Sheng to quickly study the extraction of lithium, beryllium, titanium, vanadium, germanium, niobium, molybdenum, cesium, lanthanum and other rare metals.

Industrial progress walks on many legs and cannot rely solely on chemistry or physics alone.