"Could it be that everything here is made from corn stalks?"
"Right!"
...
"What's the efficiency of cornstalks producing these things?"
"On average, 4 tons of cornstalks could produce 1 ton of high-power alcohol. Meanwhile, we could get over 2 tons of special plant fiber pulp and over 900 kg of organic fertilizers."
...
"Is this high-power alcohol drinkable?"
...
"How's the effect of organic fertilizers compared to common fertilizers?"
...
"What's the use of this special plant fiber pulp? Can we only make these briquettes here? "
...
Since he came to this alcohol production base and found that everything here was produced from corn straws which had been treated as garbage, Donder's eyes had been shining like numerous gold coins flashing in front of his eyes.
Among all of them, Donder asked the most questions, which also aroused the doubts in the others' hearts. After receiving Zhang Tie's consent, Li Tao also exposed the items here to the others.
"The alcohol here is different than that brewed by common grains. It's not drinkable. Even after being mixed with water, it still has a special spicy and numb taste, which could be easily distinguished..."
After hearing Li Tao's words, all the others tasted the taste of the high-power alcohol which had been mixed with 80% water on the production line.
The taste was similar to wine, but it was definitely not the smell of wine. It was much more pungent than wine. After it was mixed with water, the color was not colorless, but a faint yellow color could be distinguished. Once it entered their mouths, everyone's taste buds experienced a numb taste. The taste was very bad, and it could not be deceived.
"Pitiful?" Donder said with a pitiful look after having a mouthful.
"Not pitiful. What's pitiful about it?" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "It's already very lucky to be able to produce high-power alcohol with cornstalks. This alcohol has a very high burning value. As a result, it loses its drinking value. Compared to common alcohol, it's much more toxic to human liver. As long as you drink one cup of it, you might be poisoned. This is the natural way of balance. If you can't produce something that could be used by machines and eaten by humans, it would be against the natural way of balance!"
After hearing Zhang Tie's words, all the others nodded as they felt it was reasonable.
"As for the effect of the organic fertilizers, we haven't found anything special yet. After one month of debugging and trial operation, it was already December when the first batch of high-power alcohol was produced. As it's winter in the north, December is not suitable for farming. The organic fertilizers have been distributed to the farmers who send corn stalks here for free. The effect of the fertilizers can only be seen when the crops are planted in the fields a few months later!"
After saying that, Li Tao glanced at Zhang Tie's expression once again as he continued carefully, "As for the usage of this special plant fiber pulp, we've been mixing it with coal cinders as fuel according to the master's will. This fuel is very easy to burn. It could be used for heating and cooking at home or heating boilers and driving various steam equipment. It's very high heat, about 10% higher than that of common coal. Additionally, it produces much less soot and dust than that of common coal and honeycomb briquettes. It's very clean and convenient to use at home. Additionally, through over one month's trial production, we found an interesting thing!"
"What's that?"
"Everyone, follow me. You will know after you have a look." Li Tao led everyone to another production workshop on the other side.
The production workshop on the other side was also a place where the fiber pulp and cinders were mixed to produce things, but it was different from the coal briquettes and briquettes that they had seen just now. The machines and production lines in this production workshop were somewhat different from those in the neighboring workshop. On the production line here, there were two more pot pulverizers and a production line that seemed to be used to produce bricks.
The coarse coal cinders in the workshop next door would be further crushed here, turning into finer coal cinders and coal dust. After mixing with the plant fiber pulp, the coal dust would be directly sent to the brick-like production line, where it would be directly compressed into dark gray square bricks.
A lot of square bricks had been piled up tidily in this workshop.
"We found that the plant fiber pulp was very malleable when mixed with the crushed cinders and coal sand, so we slightly changed the process and made the cinders finer, reducing the proportion of the mixture. At first, I just wanted to make the fuel produced easier to stack, so I made it into a square shape. Later, I found that these square fuel were not only very convenient to stack, but also very convenient to stack.
Additionally, if you don't have a high requirement on fire-resistance, you could also use these coal cinders as building materials … "
The so-called fire resistance was relative. These things produced in the alcohol base could be used as fuel, and they could be burned if thrown into boilers or stoves. However, if they were piled up like that, unless someone deliberately ignited them with something else, they would be like a pile of coal, which couldn't be burned easily.
"Not to mention alcohol, these coal cinders are very useful in the army!" Bai Zhengnan said decisively. As the royal highness of Lord Guangnan's Mansion, he didn't mind those black coal cinders which might dirty his hands at all as he bent down and picked up a dried coal cinder from the ground. After weighing it in his hand, he tested its weight and hardness, saying, "The airship troop, armored troop and transport fleet of my corps all use steam-driven equipment. When they set out, the logistics supply force of the corps has to carry a lot of coal as fuel; especially in places where there's no coal supply, they have to carry more fuel. If they don't have fuel, those armored vehicles, transport vehicles and airships might collapse. Common coal is loose and troublesome to transport and unload; it's indeed not as convenient as compressed coal cinders. If we could replace the fuel of these troops with standard coal cinders, the logistics force would face much less stress!"
"Additionally, these things could be used as fuel. In the wild, they could also be used to build temporary fortifications rapidly. It's always better than digging soil and filling sandbags …" Feng Cangwu also picked up a coal cinder which felt like a brick and a wood as he narrowed his eyes and watched it seriously, saying, "Now that this thing is very malleable and could burn as well as coal, we could make it more special. We could directly change the mold on the production line. When they are pressed out, they would form standard mortise and mortise parts in woodworking structures. They could be easily assembled and rapidly built into fortifications or small fortresses like producing small battle fortresses and components of fortifications …"
Donder widely opened his eyes at once, saying, "Really?"
"It's definitely not suitable for dealing with senior battle forces; neither could it be used to build long-term fortifications or fortresses. However, it's enough to deal with demon fighters below LV 9 at special moments!" Not knowing when, Zhang Su also took a piece of pulped coal brick in his hand, "Field fortifications and civil engineering are powerful means for humans to deal with demons. This thing can definitely be used as fuel for troops and materials for rapid construction of fortifications when needed!"
As Bai Zhengnan, Feng Cangwu and Zhang Su were experienced in battles, their words all hit the nail on the head. Such a portable material which could burn as well as coal and was very malleable indeed had a lot of uses in the corps. Some woods could also achieve the same effect after being processed. However, no corps across Taixia Country could be so extravagant; otherwise, such a corps would be bankrupt after a battle.
It was a pleasant surprise for Zhang Tie. Before coming here, Zhang Tie knew that these things could be burned; however, he had not imagined that the residue of Xie Xie's alcohol could be used in such a way.
"I feel that the fiber slurry could be used to make paper!" Lu Zhongming opened his mouth, "I've been to some paper mills in Guzhou Province before. I feel that this fiber slurry is very similar to the pulp in paper mills. Additionally, it's finer. I feel that we could have a try. The process of making paper is not too complicated …"
Of course, it could be used to make paper! Zhang Tie had long known that. However, it was his first time to come to the alcohol production base. In front of so many knights, Zhang Tie didn't need to behave like a prophet. Now that someone had already thought about it, Zhang Tie just followed their advice.
"Elder brother Lu is right!" Zhang Tie nodded. After that, he told Li Tao, "After a few days, find someone to have a try. If it's feasible, we could use some of this slurry to make paper." After saying that, Zhang Tie pointed at Donder, "He's Donder, my general butler. From now on, you two will handle the management and financial affairs of the alcohol production base. His decision is my decision!"
"Yes, sir!" Li Tao nodded. Closely after that, he bowed deeply towards Donder and said politely, "Thanks for your advice, General Manager Donder!"
"Not at all, not at all. Let's learn from each other!" At this moment, Donder was so excited that he couldn't control himself. Eyes gleaming, his chest heaving up and down as he counted with his fingers, "High-power alcohol is money; organic fertilizers are money; coal bricks and briquettes are money; paper is money; straw is garbage. This... this base is simply a coin making factory that turns waste into treasure. This base is too few. The more bases like this, the better..."
"Elder brother Bai and Elder brother Lu, how do you feel about this business? Do you like it?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Zhengnan and Lu Zhongming.
"Is this the business that you want to talk about?" Bai Zhengnan asked Zhang Tie seriously. Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi also exchanged a glance with each other.
"Of course it's this. If you like, I could hand the business between South Border and Zhongbei Military Region to you. We will share the profits equally!"
"Do you know how much money you could make and how influential it would be in South Border? It's your exclusive business. How could you share it so generously?"
"Let's make money together. It's meaningless for me to make money alone!" Zhang Tie replied with a casual smile. His broad-mindedness was really moving as he said, "Heavens Fortune Sect has also boarded my ship. After a few days, the elder of Guan Clan will also come here. Elder brothers, don't be too polite to me …"
"Which Guan Clan?"
"Guan Clan of Mingwu Palace!"
"Are airplanes produced here?"
"Airplanes and engines are in Xuantian City!"
"Well, let's take a look in Xuantian City. I want to see how many more good things you're hiding!"
"Fine, let's take a look in Xuantian City!" After saying that, Zhang Tie told Li Tao, "You come too. Let's take a look at the use of this alcohol in Xuantian City so as to be more confident …"
"The name of high-power alcohol is too long; additionally, it's not domineering and intuitive. The word 'alcohol' could arouse people's misunderstanding. They might think it's edible or cheap; if they think it's edible, they might hurt people easily; if they think it's cheap, we can't raise its sales price. If we want to sell it to the public in the future, we need a louder and more memorable name." Donder had a very sharp business talent. Only after thinking about it for a short while with a frown, he had made a useful suggestion.
"Before the Catastrophe, there were fuels such as gasoline, kerosene and diesel, whose names were very catchy. Now that high-power alcohol appeared in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, if I don't want to be called alcohol, I will call it fiery oil from now on!" Zhang Tie gave a name to high-power alcohol without thinking about it.
"Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Fiery Oil. This name sounds nice and catchy!" Donder praised at once. After repeating this name for two times, all the others nodded.
"I also feel that Fiery Oil General Manager sounds more elegant than alcohol General Manager!" Li Tao nodded too, "This alcohol base could also be called Fiery Oil Refining Base from now on!"
…
After carrying Li Tao, the airboat that landed in the alcohol base took off once again towards Xuantian City.
After taking a look around here, Zhang Tie found that high-power alcohol had a wholly new name — — Fiery Oil!
The airboat moved very fast. Only in about 1 hour, it had arrived at Xuantian City from the border between Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Yanzhou Province. In Xuantian City, Zhang Tie saw a factory that could produce 100,000 sets of dual-drive engines per year and the first airplane manufacturing plant in Taixia Country …
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