Romanian Eagle

In the spring of 1915, news of the German use of poison gas came from the European battlefields. When attacking Ypres in Belgium, the Germans took the lead in using poison gas. They released about 180 tons of chlorine gas. More than 15,000 British and French troops were poisoned, and 1/3 of them died.

In retaliation for Germany's release of poison gas, the British army also used poison gas on May 26, which also added heavy losses to the German army who thought that only they had mastered the secret weapon.

Therefore, the mode of poison gas warfare was continuously used by both sides in the First World War.

As a neutral country destined to go to war, Romania is of course quite concerned about this situation. To this end, as the new king, Eder also went to the Institute of Organic Chemistry in Slobozia, which was established by Professor Bolvin for the research of pesticides.

The Romanian chemist identified by Eder is now one of the few chemists in China who can do it well, mainly because the inorganic pesticides he studies are based on chlorine as the basic raw material. However, his organic synthetic pesticides have not achieved results yet. The main reason is that when killing the pests, even the crops are killed together. Even if they are not killed, the crop production will be reduced, and the gains will not be worth the money.

"Your Majesty, welcome to the Institute of Organic Chemistry."

At the entrance of the institute, Professor Bolvin and his team greeted Edel.

As a research institute specially prepared for him, Bolvin will of course get the news in advance. Because of the delay of the news, he didn't know that the gas war had been used, so he thought it was because of the lack of results in the past few years when Edel came to inspect. The whole person is a bit bumpy, for fear that Edel will no longer invest money to support his own research and development of organic synthetic pesticides.

It needs to be explained here that the pesticides currently used in Europe are mainly inorganic pesticides. Among them, the lime-sulfur mixture is boiled with the same amount of lime and sulfur-flavored raw materials, and the Bordeaux mixture is mixed with copper sulfate and lime water, but these are all It is mainly used for economic crops such as fruit trees and grapes.

For crops such as grain, natural pesticides such as lime, tobacco, turpentine, pyrethrum, and fish vines are still used. However, these pesticides are difficult to use on a large scale due to low yield and poor insecticidal effect. Therefore, even at the beginning of the twentieth century, European grain crops still needed to be plagued by pests and diseases, which led to the fact that the current grain production in Europe is not too high.

Under the leadership of Professor Bolvin, Edel visited his small chemistry research institute, which consists of two three-story buildings and a piece of farmland behind it as an experimental field.

Edel saw during the visit that the test tubes were neatly arranged and the experimenters were well organized. This is the result that Bolvin allowed himself to see. However, the stains that appear on the ground from time to time also show that their research is also dangerous. Eder stopped when he got to a room with a large glass to see inside. He pointed to the two masked staff members who were busy in the room and asked. "what is this?"

Seeing the king's inquiry, Bolvin explained. "This is the production room where we extract chlorine, and because of the danger of gas leaks, they put on gas masks that I designed."

Looking at this gas mask with a familiar face, Edel asked the reason for it. "What inspired the professor to design such a unique mask?"

Hearing the king's question, Professor Bolvin said a little embarrassed. "Before we used laboratory equipment to produce chlorine, but I didn't think that there would be enough chlorine gas, so I redesigned a chlorine gas production equipment.

It's just that inexperience has led me to design a device that is at risk of minor leaks. "

Speaking of which, Professor Bolvin touched the back of his head a little embarrassedly and continued. "Because of funding, I can't redesign one, so I can only use this one, but I still prepare protective measures for the people working inside, and the masks they wear can ensure the safety of gas leakage for an hour. Time. And it's very simple, just rubber and activated carbon to use, and when they're done they just need to swap out the activated carbon and they're good to go."

Hearing Professor Bolvin's words, Edel asked inexplicably. "Is 1 million lei a year not enough?"

Facing Edel's question, Professor Bolvin said shyly. "Your Majesty, this funding will never be possible. It will take a lot of money for personnel, operating experiments, purchasing equipment and materials. Take this reverie chlorine extraction equipment as an example, its cost will reach 470,000 lei, Many of these precision parts need to be purchased from other countries."

Facing Professor Bolvin's words, Edel said casually to a follower behind him. "When I go back, the funding fee for the professor will rise to 2 million lei. By the way, I will prepare an emergency fund of 500,000 lei for the professor to help them replace this dangerous chlorine extraction equipment. I don't want to be the wealth of Romania. What do researchers have to lose?"

Hearing that Edel directly doubled the funding and provided 500,000 lei to replace the equipment, Professor Bolvin quickly thanked him. "Thank you very much for your Majesty's support to our institute. We will definitely serve Romania better and develop organic synthetic pesticides that can be used in crops as soon as possible."

Edel looked at the carrot and gave it. Now he needs to tell Professor Bolvin the main reason for looking for him, so he tells the followers behind him. "You don't have to follow, I have something to talk about with the professor."

Professor Bolvin is not someone who doesn't understand human affairs. Even if he didn't understand it before, he also learned it after being the director of the research institute for a few years. So he spoke right away. "My office is in front of you, Your Majesty, let's go there to discuss."

"Professor, please lead the way."

After walking into the office, Edel told about the poisonous gas war that is taking place in the European battlefield, and Professor Bolvin, who was in the audience, did not change his face until he listened to it. "When I was doing experiments with Haber before, he had this idea. I just didn't expect it to be used in wars so quickly. Seeing that my old friend is still very capable."

After evaluating his former colleagues, he asked about Edel. "Your Majesty, do you want our institute to also develop this chlorine gas?"

In the face of Professor Bolvin's inquiry, Edel said without concealment. "Yes, professor, I have seen that your research institute has a lot of research on chlorine gas. I hope you can industrialize chlorine gas. In fact, I hope you can industrialize mustard gas. I heard that this gas is more harmful to the human body. We don't need to use it, but There can be no countermeasures.”

In Edel's few memories, chlorine gas seems to have been used in the poison gas battle in the early days of World War I, and mustard gas has been used in later generations. Among them, the famous sarin gas incident in Japan has helped him to deepen his impression. For this reason, he also checked the Internet specifically, only to find the name mustard gas, and he had long forgotten the way of making sarin.

In the information he checked, mustard gas was synthesized by German chemist Meyer in 1886. And after the poison gas battle, he asked the chief of guards to find the information on mustard gas, and it was also found. So he planned to let Professor Bolvin, who has experience in synthetic chemicals, preside over this poison gas production project, and the production of chlorine gas was also mentioned on the table just in case.

After listening to Edel's request, Professor Bolvin replied without thinking. "There is no problem with this, but I need to be satisfied financially."

Facing Professor Bolvin's request, Edel said generously. "No problem, I'll have someone in charge of it. As long as it's the equipment you need, I'll let someone buy it. But can you tell me how long it will take?"

Professor Bolvin replied quite confidently. "Within two years, I'll industrialize mustard gas, and three months for chlorine."

Hearing Professor Bolvin's words, Edel said to him with a smile. "Thank you for your contribution to Romania, and the public will not forget your credit."

"That's what I should do."