Who would have thought that a small amount of acetone can change many things? Perhaps, for Europeans, they don't know, but for Li Zicheng, who is far away in Asia, all this is carefully planned.

Putting down the telegram in his hand, Li Zicheng smiled slightly. Now he could finally answer their questions. That inconspicuous little thing was, to a certain extent, the key.

Acetone, many people will not notice this humble chemical raw material, but they never know that it was this humble chemical raw material that once contributed to the birth of a country.

After the outbreak of World War I and the acetone crisis in Britain, the Jewish chemist Weizmann, a Zionist, invented a method of using yeast to ferment butanol to artificially synthesize acetone. Acetone was necessary for the British Army and Navy to manufacture smokeless gunpowder.

In the past, the indispensable raw material was made by the method of dry distillation of acetate, which took a long time to produce and produced little. After the invention of synthetic acetone, the output of smokeless gunpowder in the UK suddenly increased from 8,000 tons per year in the past to per week.

800 tons, which greatly strengthened Britain's war efforts. The British government's support for the establishment of a Jewish national home was a reward and reward for Weizmann.

Lloyd George, who later became the British Prime Minister, once bluntly said that the Balfour Declaration was a reward for Weizmann for his important work during the production of acetone. It was this declaration that led to the

The birth of Israel.

It can be said that it was acetone that contributed to the establishment of the country of Israel. If I had not seen an article on the Internet many years ago, I might not have known this story, and naturally I would not have thought of writing an article on acetone.

"This technology is worth at least 200 million pounds!"

Facing Li Zicheng's explanation, Mu said with some dissatisfaction, just like the skyrocketing price of nitric acid, phenol and other military chemical raw materials, the price of acetone also changes day by day. Naturally, he feels very uncomfortable about this preference of exchanging a golden doll for something in the UK.

pity.

"Twenty million pounds, that's based on the current price. The UK has world-class chemical experts, and they will soon solve this technical problem. In fact, this technology has been invented long ago, but it has been ignored.

, maybe a few months, but no more than half a year at most. By then, the price of acetone will naturally decline. By then, in a market of 200 million pounds, it will be very good to have 20 million pounds!"

Mu certainly didn't know that in a few months, Weizmann would invent a method of yeast fermentation of butanol to artificially synthesize acetone. Naturally, he also didn't know that after the invention of artificial acetone synthesis technology, the price of acetone plummeted. Of course, neither did Li Zicheng.

There is no way to explain it, but it can only be explained in a generalized way.

Now for China, it is to use this technology that will be invented by Weizmann in a few months to force the British to side with China in this conflict, thereby ending this war, and North Korea

develop in a direction beneficial to China.

"this……"

"Okay, Ou Chu, business can be done at any time. Sometimes, appropriate sacrifices are acceptable. If the Jiao'ao incident ends one month earlier, then we can sell all the supplies to Europe one month earlier.

How many orders has the trading company brought in for us in the past few months?"

Of course, Li Zicheng doesn't care about the so-called orders. In fact, there is no need to care at all. As the war continues, the orders will only increase. Even if all the factories in China are rushing to work day and night, they may not be able to meet the market demand.

need.

"Zhiyuan, the current international market has shown signs of transforming into a seller's market. The performance of our trading houses in various countries has generally increased. Last month, we exported 1,500 tons of various dyes to the United States, and the profit exceeded that of the war.

Three times that of before, the Western medicines of Hua Pharmaceutical Company have been snapped up by British and French foreign companies before they leave the factory..."

Mentioning the changes in the market in recent times, Mu became excited. Just as Li Zicheng speculated before, the market has completely changed now, and the factory's profits are like stealing money.

"Not only us, but also the profits of factories in various places have increased rapidly with the outbreak of the war. The wealthy businessmen in various places who did not listen to our persuasion to expand their factories are regretting it so much that their intestines are full of regret. There are three factories in Dasheng,

One week's profit is equivalent to the profit of the past half a month, and those who are expanding their factories have just caught up with this good time!"

When he mentioned this good time, Mu's expression changed slightly.

"It's a good time for them, but for us..."

"I know that our machinery stores are now crowded with customers who want to buy machines with money, but firstly we do not have enough production capacity, and secondly, our factories are now occupied by military production. A lot of production capacity

, So, on the one hand, the supply of machinery and equipment exceeds demand and prices are skyrocketing, but on the other hand, we have to use our precious production capacity in the production of military products!"

Looking at Mu, before he could finish speaking, Li Zicheng took the initiative to talk about the situation the company was facing now. It was not only the company that was affected, but also those in the country who wanted to start a business.

"That's why we have to end the Jiao'ao incident as soon as possible. Once the Jiao'ao incident is over, we can enter a period of rapid development. Of course, the most important thing is the stability of the external environment. At least when we are developing at a high speed, there will be no more people."

We are trying to use war to interrupt our development, so this time, we are going to beat Japan so hard that no one will dare to trouble us for a few years, and then we will pull out the British and give the Japanese a step down.

In the long run, the temporary sacrifice is worth it!"

Using temporary sacrifices in exchange for long-term development, although there is a price to pay, it is still worth it after all. As long as you seize this opportunity, maybe the entire history will change for the better.

Thinking that this change was brought about by himself, Li Zicheng raised the corners of his lips slightly, revealing a heartfelt smile.

"Ouchu, the Japanese are about to land in Jiao'ao. Maybe everything will be over soon!"

"boom!"

Violent explosions came from Wangegezhuang Bay. They were the explosions of mines detonated by Japanese naval minesweepers. In the past few days, the Japanese army has been clearing mines in the Yangkou Wangegezhuang Bay area. For those sunk mines,

, usually by detonating, but the Japanese army's mine clearing operations are not going well. This is already the fifth day. If it goes well, anyone can see that, maybe tomorrow, the Japanese army can open up a landing site.

When the sound of explosions in the air came, under the cover of night, a small group of soldiers walked out from the foot of Laoshan Mountain. The flat land at the foot of the mountain was originally a sorghum field. At this time, green gauze tents were built on the sorghum field.

Not to mention people, even people riding horses would be blocked by the sorghum. However, the sorghum land in the field has already been taken away, leaving it completely empty.

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

Shi Mingtao, who was carrying a box of bullets, shouted softly to the brothers beside him. Even under the night, he could still determine the direction he was heading. In his mind, he had already recorded it when he set off.

All the details. There are three old tombs in the middle. Just follow these three old tombs and go 100 meters forward from the third old tomb to reach the mountain cannon.

"This task is easy!"

He was thinking this in his mind, and beside him, the entire platoon of soldiers were marching cautiously. If nothing unexpected happened, each one of them would be carrying a box of bullets or a bucket of water.

This is food for machine gunners.

Although it is only less than two kilometers, in order to reach the hill with an altitude of 18.8 meters, it takes ten minutes of rapid march, carrying a machine gun, and two cartons of one thousand rounds of ammunition on the back rack. For Liang Shi,

For a Shandong man who is six feet tall, the whole body equipment weighs about 90 kilograms, which is more than half of his weight. At this time, he was so tired that he was breathing heavily.

The surrounding brothers were running forward with their heads lowered to the ground, each carrying rifles, bullets or buckets. Each of them knew clearly that if they could not reach the unknown hill as soon as possible, they would not be able to escape.

If they build a simple position before dawn, perhaps after dawn, their row of people will become the targets of Japanese soldiers.

Finally, a few minutes later, everyone arrived at this small hill. There were some trees growing on the hill, but more were weeds that were too tall for a person. This was their position.

Shi Mingtao grinned almost as soon as he reached the hill. Facts proved that the battalion commander's judgment was correct. This is definitely a suitable blocking position. The front line of sight is wide, unlike the sorghum behind. In front of the hill,

, until the beach, there are only some weeds growing, but most of it is an empty beach. It is about two hundred to three hundred meters away from the sea. The line of sight is wide and there is no obstacle. There is no more suitable shooting range than here.

Already.

"Platoon leader, this place..."

Li Cai, who followed Shan Bao, looked down the mountain and was dumbfounded. This place was simply a blessed place created by heaven!

At this time, the correspondent who was dragging the telephone line and carrying the phone had already begun to answer the field calls, while Shi Mingtao looked back at the brothers who had gone to Shandong. They followed the correspondent, and the brothers were half-disappeared in the night.

, but the moon reflected their figures again, looking both magnificent and sad. They went up the mountain one after another.

Liang Shi's machine gun team went up the mountain. The team leader carried the barrel and a box of ammunition belts on his back, while Wei Fu carried a heavy machine gun rack and a second box of ammunition belts, and the deputy shooter carried a whole box of bullets.

And they were carrying a loader on their backs. At this moment, they were all sitting on the mountain, panting hard, and sweat dripped from their chins from time to time, but no one dared to drink water. When setting off, sir

The order was very clear. Once they set off, the water would be their life.

"Big Liang, you go to nine o'clock, Xiao Zhuozi, you go..."

The order came out of Shi Mingtao's mouth. This hill was the one closest to the landing site, but no fortifications had been built. They only had one night to build fortifications here.

Shi Mingtao didn't have time to think too much, and neither did the 54 brothers in the same platoon. After the order was given, they ran towards their respective positions one by one, and then, under the cover of the curtain, they concentrated on digging.

There are single-man bunkers and machine gun bunkers, and no one knows whether those bunkers will become their graves tomorrow.

In fact, for soldiers, in many cases, the bunker is their grave. In this regard, God is always fair.

"Hold him there!"

Although Liang Shi is not the leader of the machine gun team, he is the machine gunner. When it comes to choosing the position of the machine gun, he even has more power than the team leader or platoon leader. Standing on the mountainside, the direction of his finger is

A small piece of flat land.

Wei Fu immediately skillfully set up the machine gun stand. Liang Shi immediately put the machine gun on the gun stand. After Wei Fu installed the sight, he squatted down behind the machine gun, began to turn the muzzle, and then

The machine gun moved back a little, looked along the scope, and then adjusted the scope to the required distance. At the same time, it also considered the range of shooting down the mountain, far below, in the scope, on the sea and on the land.

A piece of rock beaten by waves more than thirty meters away is reflected in the 2x scope.

"Shoot before they land. This area is half mud and half sand. It's sticky to your feet when you walk on it, and it's even more sticky when you're in the water. These 20 meters are more strenuous than running 200 meters. We're in a depression here. How can we hit from the sea?

They are all blind spots, even if they bombard them with naval artillery, they are still blind spots..."

Liang Shi, a first-class graduate from the machine gun training class of the Armed Corps Teaching Team, is a natural machine gunner. He was making preparations while explaining to the brothers around him that the five of them lived and died together in the same pit.

Brother, he is not only responsible for himself, but also for them.

"Aim at the enemy behind,"

Liang Shi continued to explain.

"They won't rush ashore right away. They'll start shooting when they're on the boat. It's instinct for people to avoid bullets. Even if it's a wooden boat, they will definitely jump off and then aim at the people behind..."

As he explained, he began to slowly move the lifting knob up and down.

"You want them to run forward, and then..."

"Not many can run over. We still have a light machine gun and other brothers. Let them clean up the remaining enemies, and we will fight the ones behind. No matter how fierce the Japanese soldiers are at sea, they are not much stronger than the chickens."

Liang Shi continued his explanation, while the brothers in the machine gun team listened carefully. They knew that in fact, this was to explain the funeral arrangements. No one knew who would survive to the end. Now Liang Shi placed his position

, explain the tactics, and then everyone can continue to work in such an orderly manner.
To be continued...