Chapter 779: Sucking Ansa's blood to fatten the Ming Dynasty (third update, please subscribe)
Borrow some money?
Why borrow money?
When Li Lin asked to borrow money, Feng Kai looked at him with wide eyes. What was he talking about?
"Borrow money?"
Emperor Zhu laughed.
"Tell me why you want to borrow money?"
As a university teaching assistant and a researcher in the power research laboratory, he certainly has no shortage of money. But why would he borrow money?
"Your Majesty, I, I want to build an airplane out of aluminum."
"What!"
Emperor Zhu looked at him in surprise. What was he talking about - using aluminum to build an airplane? This was simply... too advanced.
"Your Majesty, I want to make an engine out of aluminum. In the past two years, I have been studying airplanes, real airplanes, flying machines. They are powered by engines, but the current engines made of iron and copper are too heavy. So I want to make an engine out of aluminum, but aluminum is too expensive!"
Aluminum is expensive!
It’s really not cheap!
As the world's largest "aluminum exporter", Ming Dynasty earned about... 50 million Ming Yuan by exporting 50 tons of aluminum every year!
This is because Ming Dynasty produced too much aluminum, which led to a drop in aluminum prices in the international market.
Of course, this is also the limit of price reduction. After all, according to the current production methods in Europe and the United States, this price is already close to the cost price, and the profit is extremely limited. However, what Ming Dynasty uses is... electrolytic aluminum!
This "precious metal", whose price in the market is roughly one-fifth of gold, is worthless in the secret factory of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, because the production efficiency of electrolytic aluminum is too high, in order to prevent large amounts of aluminum from being put on the market and affecting the Ming Dynasty's money-making plans, several thousand tons of aluminum are stored in the secret factory.
The current Ming Dynasty is like the diamond merchants of later generations. In order to prevent the value of diamonds from depreciating overnight, the monopolists deliberately hoard diamonds and are reluctant to sell them. By artificially creating scarcity, they ensure that the price of diamonds does not fall.
The Ming Dynasty also maintained the sky-high price of aluminum by hoarding and holding back on sales, as well as keeping the method of electrolytic aluminum strictly secret. For the market, aluminum is still expensive.
"Li Lin, if we use aluminum to build an airplane, isn't that the same as using gold to build an airplane?"
Feng Kai on the side said directly.
"An engine uses dozens of kilograms of aluminum, which costs tens of thousands of yuan. Even if it is made, what use will it have? Is it necessary to build an airplane with gold?"
"This is an attempt to make an engine out of aluminum, reduce its weight, and then install it on an airplane. As long as it can fly, it can at least prove one thing: our idea is right. All we lack now is an engine!"
When Li Lin finished speaking, Emperor Zhu thought for a moment and then said.
"It's not impossible to build an airplane with gold!"
What!
Li Lin and Feng Kai looked at His Majesty in surprise. What was His Majesty saying?
Use, use gold to build airplanes!
"To do scientific research, you must be brave enough to try. It doesn't matter if it costs a little more money. Besides, it's just a few hundred kilograms of aluminum. I can still afford this. So..."
After thinking about it, Emperor Zhu, who originally wanted to give them the aluminum directly, said.
"I will tell the Special Metallurgical Company to go directly to them and get the aluminum you need. As for the money, I will settle the bill with them later."
It's just aluminum. It seems very valuable on the surface, but in fact it's just a common commodity. If Emperor Zhu was not afraid of impacting the market, he would have launched at least several hundred tons of aluminum every year. Unfortunately, it's just a thought. If he really did that, aluminum would become very cheap.
This is also the reason why Emperor Zhu asked them to purchase from a special metallurgical company, at least to create a false appearance on the surface - the emperor paid for it, and the aluminum was still extremely expensive.
However, the troubles that Li Lin and his men encountered did arouse the interest of Emperor Zhu.
Without aluminum, there is no way to build a light engine, and without a light engine, there is no airplane!
How many countries can afford aluminum aircraft now?
Even if we calculate that each aircraft engine uses 100 kilograms of aluminum, 100,000 grams of aluminum is almost 100,000 Ming Yuan!
The engine of a small airplane alone costs 100,000 Ming Yuan!
This is enough to discourage anyone. After all, the cost of building even a "Nanhua-class" ship is only 1.8 million yuan.
One Nanhua-class ship can only buy 18 toy-like aircraft. Apart from anything else, this sky-high price is enough to deter the whole world!
“It seems like this is a good idea!”
On the way out of the power test laboratory, Emperor Zhu thought a lot and it seemed that there was no need to keep the aircraft too secret - aluminum, just relying on aluminum, could almost monopolize the production of aircraft.
How many countries in the world are willing to spend such high prices to manufacture toy-like aircraft?
This is definitely a crushing victory in terms of wealth. Even if those European and American countries knew about the existence of airplanes, what could they do? They could not use "gold" to build airplanes like the Ming Dynasty did.
Of course, they can also use brigades to manufacture engines like the Ming Dynasty did, but the question is whether they can afford it financially?
But the Ming Dynasty was different. It had cheap aluminum. Even though it seemed that it spent a lot of money to build a bunch of airplanes that were worth as much as gold, in fact, the money was just transferred from one hand to the other.
In fact, to a certain extent, if European and American countries could be involved in this arms race, it would not be without benefits for the Ming Dynasty.
After all, every time they built an airplane, not only would they waste a lot of money, but they would also need to buy aluminum from the Ming Dynasty!
Use their real money to buy that aluminum!
In this case, do they still have sufficient financial resources to invest in the navy?
In this way, the airplane will become a bleeding tool, constantly bleeding them. But the Ming Dynasty can get extremely rich returns from it, after all, the aluminum market has further expanded.
Isn't this just bleeding them and using their blood to give yourself a blood transfusion?
This business seems to be promising.
"Fortunately, the technology is kept confidential now!"
Emperor Zhu thought a little complacently that until now, his electrolytic aluminum laboratory was still on the island where the Naval Academy was located. Who could have imagined that on that naval island, there would be a "gold mine" with an annual output value of more than 50 million?
In fact, in the past few years, it was that "gold mine" that added extra fuel to the development of the Ming Dynasty. It can even be said that it contributed at least half of the credit to the early industrialization of the Ming Dynasty.
If the airplane can drive a market wave, the profits from this "gold mine" will be even greater!
"Science and technology... are really good things!"
This is the power of science. With the monopoly on technology, sellers can sell worthless things at sky-high prices, such as mirrors from Venice and aluminum from the Ming Dynasty.
Thinking of the story of the Venetian mirror-making technology being stolen, Emperor Zhu pondered for a while, and then secretly decided in his heart to strengthen the structure of the Imperial Security Bureau. After all, the possibility of technology leakage must be fundamentally prevented.
The price of aluminum in the Ming Dynasty was sky-high.
In fact, there are many high value-added products in the Ming Dynasty, such as chemical dyes, medicines, and various tool steels and alloy steels. These are all high value-added products. Such products are lacking in European and American countries.
Even the most common steel, the Ming Dynasty is unique in the world. Until now, when European and American countries face the "high-speed steel tools" produced by the Ming Dynasty, they are not only envious, but also curious - the Ming Dynasty did not monopolize the supply of various alloy steels including high-speed steel through patents, but through confidentiality. Although as early as 1868, the British Macht invented self-hardening steel, and 1870 invented chromium steel in the United States.
However, Daming's alloy steel technology is more advanced, and it has already produced hundreds of grades of alloy steel. The reason why Dahua Steel's profits far exceed those of its European and American counterparts is due to technology! It relies on high value-added alloy steel.
Thinking of those high value-added industries in his mind, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but nodded heavily.
"We can't let our guard down on this confidentiality!"
We definitely cannot relax on this issue. After all, confidentiality is not only related to unimaginable huge wealth, but also to whether Ming Dynasty can become the final winner in this competition!
After all, in the competition between countries, there are never only winners and losers.
No matter in which era, the loser in the competition between countries will have nothing.
Keeping secrets... is a long and arduous journey!
(End of this chapter)
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