Jiao Zhou and Yazhou are the southernmost territories of the Tang dynasty. The climate is warm and humid, which is the most suitable environment for rubber trees to grow. Planting rubber trees in Jiao Zhou and Yazhou is undoubtedly the most suitable choice. In just a few years, the Tang dynasty will have an endless supply of rubber resources, which will greatly promote the development of industry and improve the living standards of the people.
Because of the great importance of the imperial court, the rubber plantations in Jiao Zhou and Yazhou can be protected to the greatest extent. In addition, with the large-scale application of rubber resources in the future, many people will choose to establish rubber plantations to earn money to maintain their livelihood. In this way, the rubber resources will be more abundant in the future, and the cost will be reduced step by step, which is more beneficial to the industrialization process of the Tang dynasty.
As for collecting rubber and manufacturing rubber products, only Ang Lee has certain skills. In other words, all of this must be completed under the guidance of Ang Lee. Without the careful guidance of Ang Lee, nothing can be done.
Yazhou is isolated overseas and needs to be reached by boat. It takes a lot of time to go back and forth. Moreover, the situation of Yazhou is similar to that of Jiao Zhou. The climate is basically the same, both are warm and humid environments. After the inspection in Jiao Zhou, one can understand the situation of Yazhou. There is no need to make an extra trip.
The young rubber trees can't be harvested for the time being. Otherwise, it will seriously affect the growth of the saplings. The yield obtained by forcibly harvesting rubber is also very limited. Therefore, one must wait for many years.
As for those fully grown rubber trees, they can be harvested. They have been rooted in Jiao Zhou for several months, or even more than half a year. They are fully grown and can produce rubber.
After a simple inspection of some rubber trees, Ang Lee is very satisfied with the official in charge of the rubber plantation in Jiao Zhou. He praised him on the spot and asked him to continue to work hard to make the rubber plantation bigger and better.
Next, Ang Lee will start to prepare for the harvesting operation. He needs to teach the technical talents in Jiao Zhou and let them learn seriously. In the future, they will harvest rubber every day and send a batch of rubber raw materials to the capital every once in a while to meet the needs of the capital's industrialization.
"Assistant Minister Li, these things are so strange. What are they used for?"
When Ang Lee took out the tools that he had brought from Beijing, the relevant technical personnel in Jiao Province were all dumbfounded. They had never seen such a strange tool before. Of course, they did not understand what it was for.
These tools were very simple. They were a sharp cutting knife, a small drainage groove, a conical container for collecting the rubber juice, and a wire to tie the conical container to the tree. That was all.
"These things are the necessary tools for cutting rubber. With them, we can cut the rubber juice we need."
Li An took the tools and introduced them to the crowd.
"Oh, so these are all treasures. They are used to cut rubber."
Everyone nodded in understanding.
"Assistant Minister Li, let's cut the rubber now!"
There were already people who couldn't wait to see what kind of rubber juice would look like after being cut.
Li An shook his head with a smile and said, "Not yet. The best time to cut rubber is in the wee hours of the morning. Only in the wee hours of the morning will the rubber be the best. Therefore, you have to wake up early tomorrow and come over at a quarter to three in the morning. This official will personally demonstrate how to cut rubber."
Although they did not quite understand, they could only obey Ang Lee and go back to rest.
"Assistant Minister Li, why do we need to harvest rubber in the wee hours of the morning? That is the sleepiest time of the day. Can't we change the time? "
Guo Qiang asked curiously after everyone left.
"Of course not. The wee hours of the day are the best. After a night of rest, the rubber tree sap is the most abundant in the wee hours of the morning. More sap can be harvested. Once the sun rises, the sap will solidify easily. Then, the sap will not be harvested."
Ang Lee explained.
"Oh, I see. But, it's still dark at a quarter to three in the morning. You have to hold up a torch to see! "
Guo Qiang grumbled.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "Colonel Guo, didn't we bring a set of generators with us this time? Move them into the rubber plantation immediately and pull up the wires. Hang up a thousand light bulbs. We must ensure that the road can be seen by the wee hours of the morning. I'll leave this matter to you. Go!"
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li."
Guo Qiang responded and immediately went to make the preparations.
After sending Guo Qiang away, Ang Lee returned to his temporary residence and immediately went to sleep. After all, he had to wake up early in the wee hours of the morning to harvest rubber. He had to sleep early to wake up early.
"Assistant Minister Li, it's already a quarter to three in the morning."
Just as Li An was sleeping soundly, he heard Guo Qiang's reminder.
"What? It's already a quarter to three in the morning? That's fast."
Ang Lee was still asleep, but he had to abide by the time he set. Hence, he immediately got up and drove to the rubber plantation.
When Ang Lee arrived at the rubber plantation, it was already a quarter to three in the morning. In other words, Ang Lee was late. In fact, he was late by a whole quarter.
However, Ang Lee was an important leader after all. Hence, even if Ang Lee was late, no one dared to say anything. This was the privilege of a leader. It had been like this since ancient times.
"Haha, everyone is here. No one is late."
Ang Lee praised everyone. Then, he looked up at the electric lights above the rubber plantation and praised, "The electric lights are set up well. This whole area is lit up. However, we still have to use torches in places where the electric lights can't illuminate clearly."
"Assistant Minister Li, the torches are ready. They're enough."
Ang Lee nodded in satisfaction and said, "Alright, we'll start cutting the rubber now. Bring the tools over."
Very quickly, a few tools were brought over and handed to Ang Lee.
Ang Lee did it himself. First, he tied the conical container to the trunk of the rubber tree with a metal wire. Then, he used a sharp cutting knife to make a slanted cut on the trunk of the rubber tree. This cut had to be deep enough to ensure that the juice that flowed out could flow down the cut without leaking out. At the lowest point, he inserted a metal diversion channel. This way, the remaining rubber juice could flow down the channel and into the conical container at the bottom to harvest the rubber juice.
When Ang Lee was done, a milky white juice flowed down the cut and dripped into the conical container at the bottom through the metal diversion channel.
"Oh, so this is the juice of the rubber! It looks like milk! "
"Is this juice really that useful?"
"Assistant Minister Li said that this thing is useful. It can't be false. This milky white thing must be something good."
"Yes, yes, yes. It must be something very good. I just don't know how to use it."
When everyone saw the milky white rubber juice, they were all very excited. They couldn't wait to try it themselves to experience the joy of cutting rubber.
"You see that! That's how rubber is cut. You start cutting at this time every day and start collecting at seven in the morning. In other words, you just have to pour the liquid from the conical container into the big bucket. It's that simple. Do you all understand? "
Ang Lee asked loudly.
"Assistant Minister Li, we understand, we understand."
Ang Lee nodded and said, "This official has demonstrated. Next, it's time for you to learn and practice. You saw it just now. Cutting rubber is so simple. This official's time is limited. You must learn immediately. Let's begin!"
Under Ang Lee's command, the technical officials and dozens of craftsmen picked up their tools and started cutting the rubber trees. When Ang Lee started cutting, he had explained in detail all the key points of the technique. Therefore, the technical officials and craftsmen would definitely understand. Otherwise, they would be too stupid.
Everyone started cutting rubber. Ang Lee patrolled back and forth. When he found that they didn't do well, he would immediately give instructions. When he found that they did well, he would praise them on the spot.
Since tapping rubber was really very simple, there was almost no technical requirement, and there was no need to say that they couldn't learn it. Therefore, everyone's performance was not bad. Almost all of them were able to cut the rubber tree in place according to Li An's request and harvested drops of rubber juice.
After confirming everyone's experience, Ang Lee asked them to continue cutting rubber until all one thousand rubber trees in the area were cut.
Because there was a lot of manpower, the thousand or so rubber trees began to produce rubber very quickly. Looking from afar, it was a spectacular sight.
During the time when the rubber trees were producing rubber, they only needed to send a few people to patrol the area to make sure that all the rubber trees were producing rubber and that there was no leakage of rubber juice.
Ang Lee also used this time to explain more about rubber trees to everyone so that they could increase the production of rubber trees in the future.
After all, rubber trees were also trees and needed to be carefully cared for. When extracting rubber, they also had to pay attention to scientific methods. They couldn't waste the life force of the rubber trees for so-called short-term benefits. That would be draining the pond to catch all the fish.
Ang Lee's explanation lasted for more than two hours. He only stopped when the sun rose. He immediately ordered everyone to collect the rubber juice in large wooden barrels.
"Assistant Minister Li, you really collected a lot! I just tested it. It's more than fifty kilograms. "
Guo Qiang put down the large wooden barrel and said excitedly.
Ang Lee nodded and said happily, "The production is good. However, it's far from enough to meet the needs of the Tang dynasty. We still need to continue transporting rubber trees from America. In addition, we need to continue expanding the planting area."
"Assistant Minister Li, don't worry. We will continue to work hard and breed more rubber trees."
The official in charge of the rubber plantation said seriously.
Ang Lee looked at the rubber in front of him and ordered, "You should already know the method of extracting rubber trees. However, you can't extract them every day. You have to extract them once every two or three days. The method is the one I just taught you. Now, there's a train from Jiaozhou to Luoyang every day. In the future, as long as the rubber is extracted, it must be transported to the capital by train immediately. There can't be any delay.
Do you understand? "" Yes, Assistant Minister Li. We understand. "
Everyone hurriedly responded.
Now, the rubber trees in Jiaozhou could only produce fifty kilograms every two or three days, which was too little. However, there were more mature rubber trees planted in Yazhou, so the production was estimated to be twice that of Jiaozhou. In this way, the capital could get fifty kilograms of rubber juice every day in a short period of time. Although it was a little less and far from meeting the needs of the Tang Empire, it was better than nothing. First, they would use these small rubber resources to develop technology. When the technology matured, the rubber plantation industry of the Tang dynasty would also develop. In this way, the quantity would be enough.
Now that the task of extracting rubber had been arranged, Ang Lee didn't need to stay in Jiaozhou anymore. He still had to go back to celebrate the New Year. If he returned to the capital now, he could go home before the New Year, so that he could reunite with his family during the New Year.
After emphasizing the importance of extracting rubber, Ang Lee immediately decided to return to the capital. He took the fifty kilograms of rubber juice that had just been harvested and planned to take it back to study all kinds of rubber products.
After the train set off, Ang Lee set up a test bench in his soft sleeper carriage and tried to heat it to see what kind of changes would happen to the rubber products.
The process of the experiment was boring, but Ang Lee was very accustomed to it. He soon found some patterns. Combined with the knowledge of his previous life, the preliminary results came out.
The train set off for three days before arriving at Chang 'an City. Ang Lee studied on the train for three whole days and made a series of important results. Many of the results even surprised Ang Lee himself. After all, the test bench on the train was so simple and crude. It was really surprising that he could get such a high experimental result.
After returning to the capital, Ang Lee had used up ten percent of the rubber juice that he brought back, leaving ninety percent intact.
In order to get the simplest results as soon as possible, Ang Lee first returned to the R&D center and arranged for the craftsmen to make various kinds of equipment. He made some simple and useful things and put them into use immediately.
The first thing that Ang Lee made was a pair of rubber soles. Then, he made a pair of rain boots. They were all very practical things for daily use.
The rubber soles were matched with sturdy cloth. Soon, a pair of light and sturdy shoes were made. It was very practical. The rain boots were also made very quickly.
Of course, because it was an experiment, the rubber shoes and rain boots made by Ang Lee were all made according to the size of his own feet. In other words, these rubber shoes and rain boots were made by Ang Lee for himself.
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