Chapter 26: Banshees, learn chemistry

While Alexei was running around the construction site, Hughes was working in his laboratory.

By the way, he officially named this place the Chemical Laboratory a few days ago and established various rules, such as not allowing servants to approach without reason, what to do if there is a fire, and what to do if there is an explosion.

Old Connor's eyes twitched when he heard this. He tried many times to persuade Hughes to give up this dangerous place, but when he remembered that this was an alchemist's workshop, he finally shut his mouth.

Connor didn't know much about alchemists, he only knew the most important part: this stuff was extremely profitable.

Any lord's attitude towards alchemists is: worship them.

Even the royal family's attitude towards alchemists is no less than that of the nobles. You should know that the Queen has punished the nobles many times, but has no intention of dealing with alchemists at all.

After all, it is easy to find a replacement for a noble after his death, and every alchemist is a treasure.

So Connor's advice changed from "Don't do such a dangerous thing." to "Can you let someone else do the dangerous part?"

As for the answer——

"Of course not. In fact, the most dangerous thing about a chemistry lab is letting in people who know nothing."

But having said that, he was actually still a little tempted.

It takes a very long time to train a person with sufficient chemical knowledge, which also means that a high level of loyalty is required, and chemical experiments are quite dangerous.

Putting all these conditions together, Hughes suddenly realized that he seemed to have a good choice.

Banshee.

These banshees were very loyal to him and were not afraid of danger. What was even better was that they were also very powerful. The physical strength of these banshees shocked him.

The force of the impact that would be fatal to a human was barely enough to cause injury to the Banshee.

Come to think of it, their huge bodies must require stronger physical support. Being taller means their strength increases exponentially, and strength also means flexibility and physical strength.

He guessed that the bone density of a banshee should be much higher than that of a human.

No wonder, despite their small number, they were able to defeat the Murloc clan with their desperate efforts.

If this were a computer game from the past, he would have immediately given the Banshees chemistry lessons.

Unfortunately, the banshees are not a string of cold data, they are living beings with their own preferences. They live at the bottom of the ocean, and although they are nominally his subjects, they are not actually closely involved.

Well, except for Ash, she and Hughes signed a symbiotic contract, so she can only stay in Castel from now on and can't be separated too far.

Speaking of which, it’s impossible to do any chemical experiments under the sea. Maybe Ash is his only student, and I don’t know if she is interested in chemistry.

I shook my head, thinking that these were all too far away.

"Connor, since there is a volcano on the island, let's get some sulfur ore. This stuff is almost certain to appear with a volcano. The quantity doesn't need to be too much. I'll just use it for experiments."

sulfur?

Connor had some impression that small quantities should be available, so he nodded.

"Also, I need a batch of bottles and jars for experiments. I'll draw them for you later and you can see if you can find a craftsman to make them. It doesn't matter if they're a little more expensive."

After thinking for a while, Hughes added, "I remember there are quite a few vases in the manor. If all else fails, we can use those. I think I also have a few glass cups?"

With a light sigh, Xius said, "Let it melt."

"I, I'll go ask the craftsman if he can do it." Connor's expression was a little complicated. Those things could be called works of art. Are we going to use them as materials now?

Well, it was a sacrifice for the alchemy workshop. "What happened to the olive oil factory?"

“Everything went well and we have already produced a batch of olive oil.”

Hughes nodded, not surprisingly. The olive oil was made using the old process, and there was nothing much to improve on, except using a millstone to squeeze the olives to extract the oil.

Change the power? Without a foundation in materials science, a steam engine cannot be built. This is actually one of the main difficulties he is facing now. He has countless drawings in his mind, but he cannot put them into practice in this world.

For example, how did he solve the tolerance problem in the steam engine? Mechanical structures are closely related to each other. If the precision is not enough, forced production will only lead to tragedy.

It's not impossible to make a hand-rubbed steam engine, it just requires a large number of parts to be made, and then find the ones that just match up, and assemble the entire device bit by bit.

His homeland on Blue Planet had used this method to develop industry in the past, but that required a considerable number of people in basic industries.

In other words, he only had one or two blacksmiths, so this was pure dreaming.

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“It’s a long and arduous journey.”

"But speaking of which, the construction of the school cannot be delayed. Alexei has been busy building a factory. Let's talk to him later."

The school is actually the part that Hughes attaches the most importance to. The current olive oil factory can only be regarded as a small-scale operation. If we want to really develop the industry, we absolutely cannot rely on the current group of illiterate craftsmen.

Moreover, schools cannot just train qualified workers, engineers, and researchers. None of these can be missing. Once a gap occurs, future development will be stuck. From this perspective, the most important thing now is to lay the foundation.

"Time is still too tight."

The pirates have to come up with something next month, and olive oil is definitely not going to work. Although Hughes had made a plan long ago, time is still tight. Now that the olive oil factory has opened, the soap only remains in his laboratory.

Laboratory preparation and industrial assembly line production are completely different things. Next, he needs to try to let the craftsmen get started and ensure that there are no problems in every link before he can start building the factory.

This is completely different from the olive oil industry that has already become an industry; it is a new technology.

He didn't intend to use soap to fight pirates. It was just a transitional product, but still important - he was trying to establish an industrial assembly line.

There is always a huge gap between small workshops and industrialization. Even if the empire can make the most sophisticated watches by hand, it still cannot be considered an industrial country.

Industrialization and standardization are what give Hughes the greatest confidence in facing the world.

The soap factory is just the first step towards implementing these goals.

Once you successfully establish the assembly line and standardized processes, everything will go smoothly.

“Buy sulfur as soon as possible, followed by nitric acid and sulfuric acid. The wheel of the chemical industry will begin to turn slowly, starting from this simple laboratory.”

There was a light of anticipation in Hughes' eyes.

(End of this chapter)