Chapter 55

When Lin Yuan heard this, he was surprised and said, "What kind of ghost land?"

Cheng Jiuzhen said, "It's just beyond that hill. There's a large open area where nothing grows. If you dig up a layer of soil, you'll see a layer of light red stones underneath. Those things are very evil; once they stick to you, the spot will hurt, and it takes several days to recover."

Suddenly, Lin Yuan thought of something and said, "Let's go and take a look together."

Cheng Jiuzhen quickly stopped him, saying, "You can't go there. Our ancestors passed down a warning that this place must never be visited."

The woman was already crying and kneeling on the ground. Cheng Jiuzen sighed and said, "Go back. Dying here is fate!"

Lin Yuan said, "Lord Jiu, I think that place is not a ghost land but a treasure land."

Cheng Jiuzhen frowned and asked, "Sir, what do you mean?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Lord Jiu, let me go and take a look."

Cheng Jiuzhen gritted his teeth and said, "Then I'll risk my life to accompany you. Let's go together."

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Get two wet towels."

The towels were quickly brought, and Lin Yuan and Cheng Jiuzhen climbed over the hill. Lin Yuan couldn't help but exclaim, "What a strong wind!"

It turned out that the mountains surrounding the open area were wider on the outside and narrower on the inside, so the wind from outside was accelerated, making the wind here very strong.

Lin Yuan walked to the open area, took a shovel, and dug into the ground. As he flipped the surface soil, a layer of light red and yellow stones was exposed. Lin Yuan was so excited that he almost jumped. These were sodium nitrate!

These materials are excellent for producing potassium nitrate. When potassium nitrate and iron sulfide burn together in the air, they produce sulfuric acid, one of the fundamental raw materials of inorganic chemistry. With sulfuric acid, reacting with potassium nitrate yields nitric acid, and heating sulfuric acid with sodium chloride produces hydrochloric acid. With these three acids, the inorganic chemical industry takes a significant step forward!

In theory, sodium nitrate is easily hydrolyzed and lost, but on this island, there is such a large deposit of sodium nitrate, which is truly a marvel of nature!

Lin Yuan explained the reason to Cheng Jiuzhen. Although Cheng Jiuzhen didn't know the use of these stones, seeing Lin Yuan so happy made him happy too.

The two searched around but found no sign of the child. The sky was just beginning to brighten, and they felt that no one had been to this place. The child might not have come here.

When they returned to the original spot, everyone was still waiting for them. The woman, seeing them, said apologetically, "I'm really sorry. My child didn't go to the ghost land; he just went out to play. I will definitely discipline him when I get home."

Cheng Jiuzhen smiled and said, "No problem. This time we discovered a treasure!"

Everyone was delighted. Lin Yuan, without celebrating, hurried back to the Beijing ship's base. When Su Zhengming heard the news, he slapped his thigh and laughed, "That's great!"

But Su Zhengming's face soon turned serious, and he said worriedly, "We need equipment for our chemical industry! These machines require a lot of steel, but we don't have even a bit of steel. Also, we urgently need lathes and other mechanical processing equipment."

At that moment, someone reported that a British cargo ship carrying coal and iron ore had arrived at the port. The British people and Old Liu were arguing, and both sides were about to come to blows!

Lin Yuan, upon hearing this, quickly followed the person to the port. When he arrived, he saw a group of dock workers with shovels standing around a pile of coal, looking lost. Liu Jinqiu was sitting on the coal pile, panting heavily. Opposite him stood a red-faced and neck-swollen British man, clearly having just had an argument.

Seeing Lin Yuan, Liu Jinqiu picked up a piece of coal and thrust it under the British man's nose, angrily saying, "You bloody, do your English call this bituminous coal?"

Hearing Liu Jinqiu's mix of Chinese and English, Lin Yuan couldn't help but laugh. He helped Liu Jinqiu up and said, "Old Liu, what did these British guys do to you?"

To his surprise, the British man said angrily, "Who are you calling a British guy!"

Lin Yuan, not expecting the British man to understand Chinese, quickly said, "Sorry, no offense!"

Liu Jinqiu said angrily, "I'm calling you British guys. Are you trying to fool us by bringing a ship of lignite instead of bituminous coal?"

In the steelmaking process, coke is needed as fuel. Natural coke is rare and must be produced from bituminous coal. Coal can be classified into many types based on its degree of coalification. Lignite is a type with a low degree of coalification and cannot be used to produce coke.

Lignite is indeed much cheaper than bituminous coal. The British supplier thought no one in Ryukyu knew the difference between bituminous coal and lignite, so he secretly replaced the bituminous coal with lignite. However, he didn't expect to encounter a metallurgical expert, Liu Jinqiu.

The British man, knowing he was in the wrong, still argued, "This is clearly bituminous coal, the best kind!"

Liu Jinqiu laughed and said, "Did you skip classes in school? Bituminous coal has a metallic luster. Look at this ship of coal; not a single piece has that luster!"

Liu Jinqiu had taught at a university and knew that skipping classes was common among students. In his anger, he didn't realize that the term didn't exist in the 19th century. The British man understood only half of what he said and wanted to argue further. Liu Jinqiu threw the piece of coal back into the pile and said, "Take this ship of coal back the way you brought it. Now I want to see your iron ore. I suspect the quality of your iron ore is also not up to standard!"

The British man ordered the workers to unload a batch of iron ore and pile it on the ground. There were three ships of iron ore. After unloading, Liu Jinqiu looked at the red stones and said to Lin Yuan, "The British didn't cheat on the iron ore. These are hematite, mainly composed of iron(III) oxide, which gives them a red or light red color, also known as red ore. The iron content of this ore is theoretically around 70%, though not as high as magnetite (mainly composed of iron(II,III) oxide), it meets the requirements of our contract."

The British man smiled and said, "Is there any problem with this batch of iron ore? Can we sign the contract now?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "We still need to check the ships." The British man looked displeased and muttered something in English, but neither Lin Yuan nor Liu Jinqiu understood him, knowing he was probably using British slang to curse them.

Lin Yuan and Liu Jinqiu boarded the ships and inspected each hold. The first two ships were fine, but when they reached the third ship, Liu Jinqiu became furious at the sight of the iron ore and said to Lin Yuan, "They're trying to fool us with pyrite!"

He picked up a shovel and flipped the ore, revealing yellow-green stones beneath the red ones. Liu Jinqiu, red with anger, said, "Do you know what I hate most? Falsification! In university, a student copied a thesis for his graduation project, and I refused to let him graduate! These foreigners dare to fool me!"

Lin Yuan was afraid he would hit the British merchant with the shovel, so he quickly took the shovel and said, "Professor Liu, calm down. Don't let your anger harm your health."

Hearing the word "pyrite," Lin Yuan's mind raced. He whispered a few words to Old Liu and then pulled the British man aside, smiling and said, "What? Is pyrite cheaper than hematite?"

The British man, knowing his trick was exposed, had to admit, "Britain is building warships like crazy, and the demand for steel is huge. The price of iron ore has doubled."

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "We can sign the contract, but you need to give us some benefits."

Seeing the British man's puzzled face, Lin Yuan explained, "The original value of these iron ores is 250,000 pounds. Now we will pay you 200,000 pounds, and you won't lose because these iron ores are worth at most 180,000 pounds. But we will still write 200,000 pounds in the contract, so 50,000 pounds will go into my pocket. Do you understand? But we can't accept the coal."

The British man nodded in agreement, and thus the deal was made. When they left, Liu Jinqiu smiled and said, "You really have a way. This saved us 50,000 pounds and got us the pyrite we need for our chemical industry."

As they were talking, a new crisis was approaching the storm-tossed Qing Dynasty in the north.

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