In August of the seventeenth year of Qianlong's reign, Xiang Nan set up an alkali plant in northern Beijing to produce soda ash.
Soda ash is the most important chemical raw material and is widely used in light industry and daily chemicals, building materials, chemical industry, food industry, metallurgy, textile, petroleum, national defense, medicine and other fields.
Historically, the manufacturing method of soda ash was monopolized by foreign countries in the early days. It was not until 1943 that Hou Debang, a well-known Chinese scientist, pioneered the Hou's method of making soda ash, breaking the foreign monopoly on soda ash.
The reason why Xiang Nan built an alkali plant was to increase glass production. Glass production is inseparable from alkali, but now the alkali mainly comes from trona lake.
It needs to be transported thousands of miles from Inner Mongolia, and the trona in the alkali lake still needs to be refined and purified before it can be used to make glass. There are several more steps, making the cost always high.
In comparison, the soda ash produced from the alkali plant can be used directly. Moreover, the distance between the two factories is very close and the transportation cost is relatively low, so the cost is reduced a lot.
The most important thing is that another product of the alkali plant is synthetic ammonia, which is a very good fertilizer.
In ancient times, because there was no fertilizer with high fertility, the yield of land has always been relatively low. Even the best farmland can only produce two stones of grain a year.
Comparatively, with the help of modern fertilizers, even barren land can produce more than a thousand kilograms of grain a year. After the grain yield per mu is increased, more people can be lifted out of hunger.
The Chinese people are the kindest people. As long as they have enough to eat, they will not think of making trouble. So keeping them full is crucial.
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At the same time as the alkali plant was being built, a pharmaceutical plant was also under construction.
This pharmaceutical factory produces sulfonamides, aspirin, artemisinin and berberine.
The so-called sulfonamide was originally used as a dye when it was first invented. Only later did people discover that it had miraculous effects on reducing inflammation. Sulfa drugs are still one of the most commonly used antibiotics.
Not to mention aspirin, which has been the most commonly used antipyretic and analgesic since its invention a hundred years ago. As for artemisinin, it is one of the most effective drugs for treating malaria.
Berberine, also known as berberine, is extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine Coptis chinensis, Cortex Phellodendri, Sankezhen and other plants. It is also a broad-spectrum antibacterial drug that can eliminate a variety of germs and treat dysentery, gastroenteritis, tuberculosis, and tonsillitis. , respiratory infections, etc. It has miraculous effects.
These anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs can be used in the military to prevent the death and injury of many soldiers and improve their morale and quality. When used among the people, it can also treat common people's diseases, ensuring their health and extending their life span.
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In the eighteenth year of Qianlong's reign, Meiruo, Chen Wenying and He Xin became pregnant one after another, which filled the palace with joy.
In March of the same year, five more warships were launched. Compared with the previous Zhiyuan, they were not only larger in size, but also more fully equipped. In addition to artillery, there are also high-speed machine guns and mines.
Xiang Nan named them Hailong, Sea Lion, Sea Tiger, Sea Bear, and Seal respectively to make it easier to distinguish them from Yuan.
After these five warships were launched, Xiang Nan immediately ordered the Nanyang Navy to attack the Dutch invaders in Malacca in the name of rescuing the local Chinese.
As early as the Tang Dynasty, Malacca was already a hub for Sino-Western trade. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Chinese people settled here. By the Ming Dynasty, Malacca had closer relations with China. At the beginning of the 15th century, the King of Malacca sent a team of more than 500 people to the capital to pay homage to Emperor Yongle.
Zheng He made seven voyages to the West and stopped in Malacca five times. As a result, a large number of Chinese people stayed there. There are still relics such as Sanbao Mountain, Sanbao Well and Sanbao Temple in the area.
The reason why Xiang Nan ordered the Nanyang Navy to fight against the Dutch invaders was because, although the Netherlands was known as the coachman of the sea, it fought three wars with England from the 17th to the 18th century. Although both sides won each other, the Dutch The losses were very great. In the third Anglo-Dutch War, the capital of the Netherlands was almost captured, which can be said to have caused a great loss in strength.
Second, Malacca’s strategic position is of vital importance. Not to mention that navigation technology was not yet developed in ancient times, and opening up shipping routes required huge risks. Even now, the Strait of Malacca is still one of the busiest straits in the world.
The narrowest point of the Malacca Strait is only 37 kilometers. It can be said that as long as the latest artillery is installed on both sides of the strait, it will really be impossible for one man to open the barrier.
As long as the Strait of Malacca is strangled, it is equivalent to strangulating the throat of the China-West waterway. In the future, those major powers that want to invade China will have to think about it first, but they will not be able to get through the Strait of Malacca.
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In the thirteenth year of Qianlong's reign, the Naval Armament School was established. After five years of hard training, the Nanyang Navy has now become a combat-effective army.
Because in addition to training, they also fight pirates in the Southeast Asia region.
During the Qing Dynasty, there were still many pirates in Nanyang.
Especially after Xiang Nan ascended the throne, he opened up foreign trade, and more merchant ships came and went, and pirates also increased. Even after many merchant ships go to sea, they turn into pirates and rob merchant ships.
For example, in "Pirates of the Caribbean 3", among the nine pirate kings, there is a Chinese woman called Mrs. Qing, who is the pirate king of the Pacific. Her prototype is Zheng Yisao, who was extremely rampant in the South China Sea from the Qianlong to Jiaqing years.
She and her husband Zheng Yi were both originally from Dan people, and later they started a business of robbing families and homes. At most, he had hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of pirates under his command. He also had camps and shipyards in Xiangjiang, and he was very arrogant.
After Zheng Yi's death, Zheng Yi's sister-in-law took over as the leader, and later hired a concubine, the famous Cheung Baozai.
After the establishment of the Naval Military Preparation School, the pirates led by Zheng Yisao were eliminated in Nanyang in the second year.
With its powerful firepower and super-fast ship speed, the pirates led by Zheng Yisao were driven to the sky and into the ground. Within a few years, the pirates in the South China Sea were eliminated, maintaining the safety of the shipping route and allowing those with ulterior motives to escape. Merchant ships no longer dare to explode thorns.
Because of this, Xiang Nan had the confidence to let them fight the Dutch invaders.
When China fights a war, it likes to have a good reputation.
The reason why Xiang Nan ordered the Nanyang Navy to attack this time was that the local Chinese in Malacca were bullied by the Dutch colonists.
Malacca has been inhabited by Chinese since the Song and Yuan Dynasties. By the Ming Dynasty, a large number of Chinese had settled there, with a population of more than 100,000.
After the Dutch colonists arrived in Malacca, they arbitrarily oppressed the local people and imposed exorbitant taxes, which had already aroused public anger. It's just that the Dutch have strong ships and powerful guns, so they are no match.
Now Xiang Nan is using the Chinese being bullied as an excuse to order the Nanyang Navy to attack, which can be said to be justified.