What Wu Yunchu will never forget in his life is the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which left an unforgettable impression in his young mind!
It was agreed in the Treaty of Shimonoseki that China recognized North Korea as a sovereign state, ceded the entire island of Taiwan and all affiliated islands, the Penghu Islands, and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan; compensated Japan's military expenditure of twenty million taels of silver; and opened Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou to Japan.
Treaty ports, etc.
Later, because the great powers intervened because they were afraid that Japan would gain too much, the Liaodong Peninsula was not ceded, but China was asked to "compensate" and "redeem Liao" with thirty million taels of silver!
Someone once touched Wu Yunchu's little head and said: "For that 230 million taels, even you have to spend five cents - you also have to take out a few days of your father's money!"
How many days does it take for a family of ten to live in a family of ten? Doesn’t it mean that a family of ten spends a month or two without food, water, or clothing?
Okay! On the other hand, if they hadn’t been robbed, wouldn’t all families of ten, especially those without food and clothing, have been able to live a good life for at least a month or two?
You must become stronger!
As a result of the Qing government's self-proclaimed boss of seclusion, it was finally knocked down by the cannons of imperialism and passively opened the door wide. The imperialists are like robbers. No, even more robbers than robbers. Even some ruffian-like missionaries
, the merchants also come to dominate, trample and plunder at will, causing the loss of sovereignty, insult to the national character, and all kinds of humiliation. This is certainly abominable to the imperialist powers, but what about you yourself? If you are strong, if you are advanced
, if we are rich, big countries, and all living beings, relatively speaking, the great powers will become "small countries with few people". If they want to bully, how dare they? Can they?
A piece of fat, no matter how big or beautiful it is, if placed in a fenced-in and very corrupt environment, will only attract flies and wild beasts; and the bigger and more beautiful it is, and the longer it lasts, the more it will attract;
A sycamore tree with deep roots, thick trunk, and luxuriant branches can only attract phoenixes and sparrows. Flies and wild beasts are not only greedy, but also dirty and savage. They can only bring disaster and are boundless intolerance.
The unbearable harm does not allow the fragrant wind to blow people; the phoenix and the sparrow not only add splendor to the phoenix tree, but their beautiful singing voice adds infinite beauty to the wonderful scenery, and evil birds are not allowed to visit without permission.
The great powers and countries are of the world and of mankind, and wherever there are people, good and bad coexist. That is to say, there are both "flies and beasts" and "spirits and phoenixes". This is how it was in the past. It is like this now and in the future.
This will also be the case during the hard work year!
Wu Yunchu was twenty years old, that is, in 1911, after six years of hard study, he graduated from the Military Academy. This year also happened an extremely important turning point in China's thousands of years of history, ending feudalism.
monarchy!
In the winter of 1915, several people in Tianjin wanted to pool their shares to set up a nitric-alkali company, and they made an appointment with Wu Yunchu to organize it together. Wu Yunchu felt that there was no decent manufacturer of nitric-alkali in China at that time, and if it was established, it would add value to the country.
He found a lot of potential in the industry, so he readily agreed and told the Hankou Iron Works where he was originally interning, and packed up and headed north. Unexpectedly, full of enthusiasm, he rushed all the way to Tianjin, only to have his head thrown at him.
A basin of cold water: the shareholders quit.
So he was trapped in Tianjin Wei. Living in another place, with no relatives, no job, and no income, it was really difficult to make a living. But he still didn't give up and still wanted to find a way out in Tianjin.
Tianjin's winter is not as cold as Shanghai's, and the house he lives in doesn't even have a stove, so it's really miserable.
It was not until the spring of 1916 that it returned south again after receiving a letter from Hanyang.
In order to improve production efficiency, Hanyang Iron Works decided to trial-produce highly efficient silica bricks and manganese bricks that have been used in furnace construction internationally.
All the relevant technical personnel tried their best but failed to produce the prototype, which cost a lot of money and yielded no results. How to explain it to the factory? When I was in a dilemma, I suddenly heard that Wu Yunchu had returned to Wuhan, and I was like a savior.
Although Wu Yunchu was only twenty-five years old at the time, he was a top student majoring in chemistry at the Shanghai Ordnance Academy, and he was very competent in the laboratory tests at Hanyang Iron Works for more than a year, so he must have some confidence in the information.
Even if it was unsuccessful, it could be proved from the outside that the failure to produce the prototype was not entirely due to their incompetence. Therefore, the burden of the trial production was passed on to Wu Yunchu.
Wu Yunchu came prepared. Although he had never made silica bricks and manganese bricks, nor had he read the relevant technical information, based on his chemical knowledge and analysis, he felt that although this problem was big, he was still more confident than others.
.What’s more, domestic silicon bricks and manganese bricks are basically blank. Once this difficulty is overcome, it will be beneficial not only to Hankou Iron Works, but also to smelting enterprises across the country!
He has long been determined to find difficult problems to attack, and to do what his predecessors have not done. Otherwise, if he follows others step by step, how can he talk about saving the country and strengthening himself?
The main reason why the great powers are strong is their scientific progress and advanced technology. Many of the things they use are much more advanced than China.
China must first intensify its efforts and acquire everything they have, that is, push them up, and then try to surpass them. Otherwise, how can we be strong? If you want to have something, the big powers will not give it to you, only
Work hard to create it yourself. Now the trial production of silicon bricks and manganese bricks is the type he is looking for. Not to mention that there is still a lot of profit, even if the benefits to him are not as great as most people hope, he will still do it! Not to mention that he is still somewhat sure.
, even if he puts in more effort and effort, he will still succeed in trial production! What's more, once he succeeds, his skills and worth will be significantly improved, and it will be easier to realize his wishes. Therefore, his
If you are determined, you will naturally be confident.
He didn't believe that what foreign countries could do, he couldn't do, and it wasn't a particularly difficult task. He felt that he could and would definitely accomplish it.
But when he accepted it, he still left room to say: "It's hard for me to say that I will be able to conquer this topic that many colleagues cannot conquer. Let's try our best!" Wu Yunchu has endured hardships. As long as
Whatever he decided to do, he would do it with all his strength.
As soon as he received the task, he rushed around to collect and search materials. All relevant technical conditions and data, even if it was as subtle as a sentence, or even only indirectly related, he carefully copied it down word for word, and then brought it with him.
I come back to summarize, synthesize, and analyze almost day and night. I often forget to eat and sleep.
The hard work paid off, and he finally developed a perfect plan. After several trial productions, he soon succeeded. This was the first time that the Chinese made silica bricks and manganese bricks; it also used silica bricks and manganese bricks for Chinese companies.
Brick made a good start and made a significant contribution; it was also Wu Yunchu's first success in the chemical industry in his 25th year of life. Winning the first battle was a great joy, and it also attracted the attention of society.
The promotion and use of silica bricks and manganese bricks also made his name spread like wildfire.
As a result, he became the director of the brick factory. He was also spotted by our Hanyang Arsenal at that time. Knowing that he was a rare talent in chemistry, he was hired as the director of the pharmaceutical department of the factory and awarded the rank of major. He suddenly became famous and his status was as high as
Salaries have increased.
There were still people who wanted to partner with him or ask him to join the company. He always refused to do anything that he thought was far from his life goal.
He could only agree to the invitation from Song Weichen, the owner of Hankou Xiechang Match Factory. The reason was that Song Weichen proposed to jointly set up a nitric-alkali company with him. Song Weichen would provide the capital and he would provide the technology and serve as the chief engineer and director. The waste liquid from the arsenal would be used for production.
Potassium chlorate. At that time, most of the raw materials for China’s match industry were purchased from foreign countries.
Don't look at it, it is a small head, but this small head requires several raw materials: sulfur, foreign wax, red phosphorus, white phosphorus, and potassium chlorate. Potassium chlorate is mostly purchased from Germany and traveled across the ocean.
Not to mention the large amount of freight required for thousands of miles, the customs duties for customs clearance and entry are also in the hands of foreigners. I don’t know how much money they will spend and how much anger they will suffer!
It was precisely after understanding these circumstances that Wu Yunchu agreed to cooperate when Song Weichen proposed cooperation because his attempt to set up a nitric alkali plant in Tianjin failed.
Foreigners are used to dominating the Chinese market, and they will never allow the Chinese to produce their own chemical products. Hankou actually has a Chichang nitric alkali factory that produces potassium acetate. Is this a big deal? The foreign businessmen shipped the potassium chlorate they produced in large quantities.
They even competed with Chichang at the same price. They have a long production history and advanced technology. How can Chichang, a small company that has just started and not yet stabilized, withstand it? Just accept the loss and deal with it, and turn the Hankou Xiechang Match Factory
All the funds were mobilized, no matter how much they could do, Song Weichen was never willing to do so. Therefore, Chichang, which had not been in operation for a long time, was forced to switch production to another raw material for matches, cowhide glue.
But you are still the chemical raw material for matches. If you have China, wouldn't it mean that you no longer use other foreign products?
Kraft glue is not as easy as squeezing out potassium chlorate. This time, Wu Yunchu got more motivated. He strived for more refinement in technology and more perfect craftsmanship, and the cost was greatly reduced. If he had enough funds, there would be several big matches.
By purchasing it from the factory, he could fight a protracted war with foreign merchants on price and win. However, on the one hand, Song Weichen was frightened by the forced switch to production of potassium chlorate. On the other hand, his match factory was becoming increasingly depressed and he was running out of money.
, he is never willing or able to come up with more money!
Wu Yun first saw that Song Weichen was powerless, but he did not give up. At this time, he also heard that Liu Hongsheng from Shanghai had set up the Hongsheng Match Factory in Suzhou in 1920, which was very prosperous. Soon he bought Suzhou Xiechang Match from his father-in-law Ye Gongshi.
The factory was even more prosperous and he had won the title of "King of Matches", so he went to Shanghai in person to find Shi Gengyin.
Shi was originally the director of the gun factory of the Shanghai Arsenal, and Wu Yunchu also served as the director of the pharmaceutical section of the Hankou Arsenal. The two factories had contacts, and the two became friends during their contacts. At this time, Shi Gengyin was asked to come forward to discuss joint ventures with Liu Hongsheng. Liu Hongsheng also
He was a patriotic entrepreneur who now owned several large enterprises. The match factory was one of the three pillars of his enterprise. He was also determined to drive foreign matches and raw materials out of the Chinese market, so he agreed wholeheartedly.
Therefore, Liu Hongsheng funded and set up a cowhide glue factory on a piece of land near Rihui Port in Shanghai purchased by Liu Hongsheng. The name of the factory was still Chichang, but with the word "new" added!
The director of Xinchichang Cowhide Glue Factory is still Wu Yunchu.
After a period of production, the market was still sluggish. Swedish and Japanese matches flooded in again. Liu Hongsheng's match factory was also hit. Seeing that the cowhide glue could not last long, Wu Yunchu started to use electrolytic salt to produce caustic soda hydrochloride.
idea.
But Liu Hongsheng was no longer interested, and Wu Yunchu had no technical ability, but no financial power, and no corresponding social status, so he had no choice but to rely on "salt"!
The Xinchichang Cowhide Glue Factory was once again forced to face a desperate situation. Several large firewood factories in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were overwhelmed and unable to purchase large quantities of cowhide glue!!