Dominate the Country

Chen Ming knew very little about metallurgical technology. He only knew that there were oxygen blowing and alkali blowing technologies in the process of the great development of metallurgical technology. He didn't even know that it was for steelmaking instead of ironmaking. But his side guidance at least gave the research team some clues.

So Chen Han's metallurgical technology has made good progress, although it is impossible to be as advanced as in the second half of the 19th century in the original time and space. This is also the reason why Chen Ming set the goal high at 5 million tons.

If there is no major progress in metallurgical technology, Chen Ming would not dare to set such a high goal. But even so, the cabinet has issued a bounty order to the whole country. If someone can improve the current steel smelting technology and greatly increase the output, in addition to legal rights such as patent inventions, the government will also take out 10 million yuan of funds as invention rewards.

This does not mean that all will be given to one person at once. Technical inventions are all gradual. There will be a supervision committee for the 10 million funds. Most of the people in it are experts in the metallurgical industry. They will evaluate the practicality and function of the invention, and then distribute the funds according to the situation.

When the cabinet made this decision, several major steel companies of Chen Han were present, and then the 10 million special funds were quickly accumulated to 23 million. This is not a small number! It can be converted into 5.75 metric tons of gold, and it can be converted into 600,000 or 700,000 pounds. This is a huge sum of money that is valuable anywhere.

And this is just the beginning. As time goes on, more and more funds will definitely be transferred into it, and even various steel companies will offer rewards for inventions. No one can say how far the latter will eventually develop.

However, in order to prevent this big plan from being seen by Western businessmen and frightening Europeans, the Chen Han government did not fully announce it, but the 23 million yuan reward still caused a huge sensation on the entire earth. Money moves people's hearts, and countless people are jealous and hot-hearted. This is inevitable. Many people who have never been exposed to steel smelting have also become concerned about this and dream of getting the reward. Many Europeans are also eager to make a move. Even if they can only get half, one-third, one-quarter, or one-fifth of the 600,000 or 700,000 pounds, they can still be a first-class rich man in Europe with a hundred thousand pounds, which can allow the whole family to live a carefree aristocratic life from now on.

Unfortunately, these rewards are not so easy to get. It is impossible for Europeans to get them. At this time, although Europe is not worse than China in various basic theories, and even continues to be ahead of China, it lags behind China in practical application. Many of their countries still use very traditional technology for steel smelting.

Therefore, the most likely to get this is those Chinese researchers and front-line technicians.

The metallurgical technology currently promoted by the Chen Han government comes from the Central South Metallurgical Geology Research Institute. The blast furnace he improved adopted the method of blowing preheated air from the lower part of the furnace along the furnace tuyere, so that the blast furnace that originally produced several tons a day can produce more than ten tons a day, and the production capacity has increased significantly.

If China's blast furnaces can be completely changed to new blast furnaces, there will be no need to build new factories. Once the new blast furnaces are put into production, it will not be too difficult to produce 5 million tons of iron. But the future market will be a buyer's market. At that time, there will definitely be people, a large number of people who are unwilling to reform production technology, because they can also make a lot of money with the old methods.

This is like the small blast furnaces in later generations. The state has banned them from being shut down, but when Chen Ming traveled from the 21st century, he believed that there were still small blast furnaces in China. Although the small blast furnaces of that era are definitely first-class furnaces now.

Because of this patent, the institute made a fortune. It is said that the institute issued a reward of at least 5 million yuan to the research team with only a dozen people. But everyone knows that the real value of this patent is not such a small amount of money. It is reported that in the future, China's steel production industry will pay 5 yuan per ton of iron to the Central South Metallurgical Geology Institute as long as it adopts a new production method.

From five yuan/ton in the first year, to four yuan/ton in the second year, it has been decreasing to one yuan/ton in the fifth year, and then it has remained at this price until the patent of the Central South Institute of Metallurgical Geology expires. This is a huge sum of money. And 20% of it will always belong to the research group.

This news was published in the newspaper, and countless people in the country lost sleep. They calculated how much money the institute could get in the future. No wonder it was several million yuan. It turned out that this amount of money was really small money. I don’t know how much money the members of the research group can get, but it is definitely an astronomical figure for an average family.

More than a dozen people share 20% of the patent fee. Even if each person only gets one percentage point, each person will easily earn millions in 20 years.

This is just one person.

Although there have been more than one or two people who have made a fortune because of patents in these years, seeing such an amount of money makes many people salivate.

…

It’s August. It’s winter again in the north. The Sino-Russian battlefield has undergone great changes this year, and the war in Astrakhan seems to be returning to calm.

Bagration did make full preparations at the beginning, but now the siege has lasted for a year. No matter how well prepared Bagration was at the beginning, he must now pay attention to the dilemma of running out of ammunition and aid.

The arrival of a large number of follow-up troops of the National Defense Force has pushed the war between China and Russia back from the vicinity of New Astrakhan to Turinsk. Even the Russian army has sent a large number of reinforcements again.

Alexander I has returned to Moscow, and he is even planning to move the capital of Russia back to Moscow. Because Russia's main enemy in the future will not be in the West, but in the East. Moscow is obviously more advantageous than St. Petersburg.

The war in the south went smoothly. At least Russia conquered the land on the western coastline of the Black Sea that was lost outside the Crimean Peninsula, but they joined forces with Austria and many volunteers to attack Moldova, which also suffered setbacks.

Although the coup within the Ottoman Empire helped Russia at a critical moment, the fighting spirit of the Ottomans in fighting in Russia and in the sphere of influence of the Ottoman Empire was completely different. The European coalition forces once attacked Chisinau [the capital of Moldova], but in the end they retreated in the fight.

The Ottomans also have their own pride. When defending their national interests, their soldiers also showed strong combat effectiveness.

In addition, Alandar Mustafa returned to the battlefield soon instead of staying in Istanbul to fight for power. Chen Han clearly expressed his support for the new Sultan Abdul-Mecid I. Although the latter ascended the throne of the Sultan in a chaotic situation, he quickly secured the deal after receiving China's promise. Then Alandar Mustafa was driven back to the battlefield again.

Alandar Mustafa obviously coveted the Grand Vizier, but as long as Abdul-Mecid I was not stupid, he would not teach Alandar Mustafa the position of Grand Vizier. Even if the "Grand Vizier" belonged to Muhammad Ali.

The latter fought very well on the Crimean Peninsula. Although he did not take the Sevastopol Fortress, he took all other places. Moreover, after the Russian army captured the New Kakhovka, he firmly held the Kalkinit Bay and Dzhankoy, blocking the Russian army in the north of the peninsula.

The Chinese National Defense Army entered the Ottoman territory from Persia, which greatly inspired the Ottoman people's resistance spirit. And the aid from China also arrived in large quantities in the summer and autumn, which greatly relieved the latter's financial and military supplies.

To be honest, it is hard to say whether the Ottomans are really short of money after experiencing a turmoil.

When the conservatives came to power, they killed the reformists in Istanbul for a while. On the contrary, after Alandar Mustafa led the army into Istanbul, he also bloodbathed the conservatives. Istanbul was killed with blood flowing into rivers and heads rolling. A minister like Alandar Mustafa certainly has great merits, but which monarch dares to really put the power in his hands?

That is, the Ottoman politics is loose, and the power of the Sultan is no longer as great as it was in the past. Otherwise, Alandar Mustafa would definitely be dead.

This guy is not like Shi Heng, Xu Youzhen, Cao Jixiang, etc. in Zhu Qizhen's coup. He is a butcher with a knife in his hand. How could Abdul-Mejid I not be on guard against him? If this happened in China, Alamdar Mustafa would have been executed along with his entire family.

The current war situation is that the Ottoman Empire has switched from offense to defense, with Austria in the west, Russia in the north, and the British in the south stirring up trouble. The pressure on the Ottoman Empire is not small. The British also sent secret envoys to contact the Ilam family in Egypt.

Old Ilam has been dead for several years, and his eldest son Saddam Abdul Aziz Ibn Ilam has been dead for several years, but Saddam has always been clinging to China's thighs.

This is a very honest person, without too much ambition. According to the Chinese advisers around him, Saddam has no intention of independence and he is very satisfied with his current life.

The Ilam family is the real aristocracy in Egypt, controlling tens of thousands of troops with the Ilam Corps as the core, with the Chinese backing and the Ottomans as support, he is very satisfied with his current power.

In Chinese terms, this is a dog guarding the house. A few years ago, when China was entrusted by Istanbul to resolve the rebellion of the Wahhabis on the Arabian Peninsula, it "borrowed" tens of thousands of Ilam family troops and used them very smoothly.

So, the old Ilam people died, but the new Ilam's position has not changed at all.

The Ottomans are now under great pressure. They are good at defense but not good at attack. Whether they can end this war ultimately depends on the Sino-Russian battlefield and China.