Expedition to Europe

The more you invest, the more returns you want.

John Ball understood this, so when Catherine began to allocate rooms, John Ball called Roger Howells and prepared to go to the materials laboratory on Penglai Island together.

Roger Howells' home was near John Ball's home. Even though Roger Howells was single, Lanfang Imperial University did not neglect him. Roger Howells' home was a single-story villa, which was Roger Howells' special request.

Although O. Henry promised Roger Howells that there would be workers to help Roger Howells clean the room, Roger Howells still didn't want to live in a house that was too big. For Roger Howells, the size of John Ball's house was too spacious.

Roger Howells had nothing to pack, so he put the few clothes he brought with him into the closet in the dressing room, and that was it.

Unlike Catherine who insisted on having a "Jueying", Roger Howells chose a "Matador", and it was the kind supplied to the military. It was big, thick, black, rough and rough, which was in line with Roger Howells' temperament.

The performance of the cars supplied to the military was still very good, at least the horsepower was strong and durable, but the small details were limited to the craftsmanship and there were definitely some flaws. For example, the sealing of the "Matador" was not very perfect, and it was a bit leaky when driving.

This was not bad either, the jeep could drive like a convertible.

The road network on Penglai Island was still very developed, with roads crisscrossing in all directions. Roger Howells and John Ball were able to reach the materials laboratory smoothly thanks to the roadside signs.

The Lan Fang government did a very good job, and the roadside signs were all bilingual, in Chinese and French.

There was a reason for choosing French. To be honest, English is not a common language in the world today, but French is. The status of English is similar to that of Spanish. Lan Fang escaped from the French Foreign Legion. During the three years of fighting in France, many people were able to speak French fluently. Therefore, although the official common language of Lan Fang was Chinese, French still had a considerable social status.

After many Westerners came to Lan Fang, the first language they learned was not Chinese, but French. For Westerners, remembering a few simple letters and arranging them is definitely much easier than remembering more than 2,000 Chinese characters.

Roger Howells and John Ball were both familiar with French. Roger Howells himself was half French, and French was equivalent to Roger Howells' mother tongue.

There were guards at the entrance of the Materials Laboratory, and Roger Howells' car took some trouble to enter the Materials Laboratory.

There was a cartoon-like sticker on the front windshield of Roger Howells' car. Roger Howells certainly didn't understand what it meant, but when the guard saw the sticker, it was obvious that the guard relaxed a lot.

The necessary procedures still need to be followed. Roger Howells and John Ball had just arrived at Penglai Island and had not had time to apply for their documents, so the guards called Long Chengxuan and asked him to come out to pick them up.

These guards were all affiliated with the Capital Garrison Command. Although they were responsible for protecting the materials laboratory, they did not obey the command of Long Chengxuan, the head of the laboratory.

After the call was connected, Long Chengxuan soon appeared at the gate in a commuter bus similar to the sightseeing bus of the 21st century.

"Mr. John Ball?" It seemed that Long Chengxuan was doing an experiment and was still wearing a white coat.

"Yes, you are Long?" John Ball was really friendly when he saw the white coat.

"Yes, welcome to your arrival. His Majesty has notified me. I thought you would come tomorrow, but I didn't expect you to be so enthusiastic about your work." Long Chengxuan stretched out his hand, and there was a little metal powder on his hand, shining in the sun.

John Ball obviously didn't care. He shook Long Chengxuan's hand warmly and didn't forget to show off: "Are you conducting material tests? What is this? Silver?"

"It should be surface treatment. It seems that you chose silver plating. Is this to increase the self-lubricating properties?" Roger Howells was also excited.

"I'm so sorry. According to the regulations, I should clean up before leaving the laboratory. But you are all family members now. The "Secrecy Code" automatically expires for you. Come on, I'll take you around and get familiar with this place." Long Chengxuan was a little embarrassed.

Scientists are sometimes really scary. Just by looking at them, you can see a lot of things.

Long Chengxuan was indeed doing a surface treatment experiment just now, and the material used was indeed silver.

Roger Howells and John Ball did not ask further, nor did they want to understand the meaning of the "Secrecy Code". When they started working officially, someone would explain it to them.

After getting on Long Chengxuan's car, Roger Howells and John Ball's attention immediately shifted to this small car.

"Is this - powered by electricity?" John Ball was very interested.

"Yes, it's powered by electricity, but it can't travel too far and needs to be charged frequently, so it can only be used as an internal commuter vehicle." Long Chengxuan did not hide it.

Don't think that electric cars are high-tech just because they appeared on a large scale in the 21st century. In fact, they are not at all.

The first electric car appeared in 1834, and then in 1859, the great French physicist and inventor Gaston Plante invented the rechargeable lead-acid battery. Before 1920, electric vehicles had the advantages of being odorless, vibration-free, noiseless, requiring no shifting, and low price. This formed an automobile market dominated by steam, electric and internal combustion engines.

After 20 years, the performance of internal combustion engines has improved rapidly, and electric vehicles have gradually lost their advantages. Lanfang also has a certain responsibility in this regard. The development momentum of Lanfang Automobile has also affected the survival space of electric vehicles to a certain extent.

Qin Zhiyuan still attaches great importance to electric vehicles. There are many islands in Lanfang. The area of ​​these islands is limited, and the use of cars is a bit overkill. The economical benefits of electric vehicles have great development prospects on the islands.

For example, Penglai Island, a small island with an area of ​​only about 450 square kilometers, is very suitable for using electric vehicles. Similar to how Roger Howells and John Ball commute between home and laboratory, an electric vehicle has already It is enough to solve the problem, and there will never be any "Jueying" or "Matador" at all.

Of course, the decline of electric vehicles is also due to the hype of some organizations. Americans must bear greater responsibility in this regard. If it were not for the deliberate operations of oil giants such as Ford Motor Company and Rockefeller, electric vehicles would not have declined like this. So fast.

Read the original article in Liu#9@书/吧!

"Penglai Island is a scenic spot and has very high environmental requirements, so His Majesty attaches great importance to this issue. We are currently accelerating the research and development of electric vehicles. In a while, new products may appear, which will at least satisfy the needs of transportation within the island. demand." Long Chengxuan did not hide that this was originally one of the tasks of the materials laboratory.

The progress of science and technology is inseparable from the development of materials, especially in the field of electric vehicles, where rechargeable batteries are the core of electric vehicles. Qin Zhiyuan gave Long Chengxuan some suggestions in this regard. The main research direction should be lead-acid batteries and lithium-ion batteries.

This is Qin Zhiyuan's suggestion based on the memory of the 21st century. However, due to the current technical level, it is a bit difficult to study lithium-ion batteries, so lead-acid batteries are Long Chengxuan's key research project.

Long Chengxuan is still very capable. The car that Long Chengxuan and John Ball are riding now uses the lead-acid battery developed by the Materials Research Laboratory. There are still some problems with this battery that need to be solved, so It has not been launched into the market on a large scale, but compared with the batteries used in other electric vehicles, the battery developed by Long Chengxuan is more than one level stronger, with greatly improved discharge stability and endurance.

Batteries have a wide range of applications in the industrial field, especially the diesel-electric submarines currently used by Lanfang. The higher the performance of the battery, the better. Therefore, Qin Zhiyuan now intends to spin off the materials laboratory and set up a special battery research laboratory to conduct this research. research on aspects.

"Yeah, your Majesty is indeed far-sighted-" John Ball's words were not flattery, but truly came from the heart.

Being able to rise from a laborer to become the king of a powerful country in just a few years, Qin Zhiyuan has now become a legend. Even with different identities and different positions, Qin Zhiyuan is now the most typical inspirational figure in the global media. Characters, heroic representatives, as long as miracles are mentioned, Qin Zhiyuan and Lan Fang are the best footnotes.

"Of course, His Majesty has always attached great importance to material research. Our research institute was born in the Corsican period. Even when funds were most tight, His Majesty never reduced his support for the research institute. Mr. Nicola told His Majesty withdrew from seeing you. Perhaps you already know Mr. Nikolai has a research fund of 10 million US dollars every year, but I can tell you that you don’t need to envy Mr. Nikolai, because our Institute of Materials has never had research funding. Our funding is unlimited! "When mentioning Qin Zhiyuan, Long Chengxuan's face was filled with pride.

After listening to Long Chengxuan's words, behind Long Chengxuan's invisible side, Roger Howells and John Ball exchanged ecstatic looks.

What do researchers fear most?

One is that laymen command experts, and the other is insufficient funds.

In Lanfang, there seems to be no such problem at all. For scientific researchers, Lanfang is really a paradise.

Soon, the commuter bus came to the door of a two-story building. Long Chengxuan got off the bus and made an inviting gesture, leading Roger Howells and John Ball inside.

"The two floors above ground are full of furnishings, reception rooms, conference rooms, lounges, etc. Our research is located below." Long Chengxuan did not hide anything and led Roger Howells and John Ball into the elevator. .

The elevator kept going down, and John Ball felt that several minutes had passed before the elevator stopped. When the elevators opened, a brand new world appeared in front of John Ball.