Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 363 Royal Bright Oil Company
"Your Majesty, this oil field can produce 6,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Basically, two days' production is enough to fill a tanker at the dock, totaling over 2,000 tons."

"The excess production is stored in oil tanks. A large tank can be filled in a day. The oil is gushing out like a torrent, and there's no stopping it!"

"Once the new oil-fired boilers are produced, we'll have somewhere to put the heavy oil that's once considered waste. We'll be able to make some money, too. It's truly a good business!"

When Governor He Xian talked about this oil field, a smile bloomed from his face to the corners of his eyebrows, and he was simply overjoyed.

Ordinary people did not know the benefits of oil, but those who reached the level of government officials like He Xian, who were influenced by the king, were among the earliest Chinese officials and experts to open their eyes to the world.

Nature is well aware of the value of this black oil, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is black gold.

this age
The most common use of petroleum is to refine kerosene, which is widely needed for lighting in Europe, and the northern Chinese mainland also has a vast market.

With kerosene, people can light lamps to dispel the darkness, allowing the rich human life to continue into the night instead of going to bed early.

In an era without kerosene, European churches and nobles widely used olive oil and whale oil for lighting. Being able to light a lamp at night was a relatively luxurious enjoyment.

Humans are naturally afraid of darkness and yearn for light.

Especially in the cold winter, the little match girl uses the light of a match to express the people's yearning for light.

Since the United States successfully discovered oil from the Drake Oil Well in Pennsylvania in 1859, it has quickly become a major commodity for domestic consumption and export, earning countless amounts of money.

A barrel of oil today is worth more than $100.

It can be said that this is not oil, but black gold.

This is because of the serious imbalance between supply and demand. The huge demand for kerosene from the European upper class and the church greatly pushed up the price of kerosene, causing it to deviate seriously from its original value and become a scarce commodity.

decades later
As the Texas oil fields entered a period of large-scale development, countless derricks were erected and oil production grew like a volcanic eruption, which also led to a sharp drop in oil prices.

The price plummeted from over a hundred dollars per barrel to a low of 35 cents per barrel.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu looked around with a smile on his face, listening to his subordinates' introductions, his expression appearing extremely calm.

The iron steam tank ship prepared for export to Europe has been in production. It uses the hull of the "Huashan" ironclad ship, but is not equipped with two circular armored gun rooms in the front and one in the rear. Instead, it has a large iron tank instead.

The interior of the large iron tank is divided into 8 compartments, each of which has the capacity to carry 250 tons of kerosene, with a total carrying capacity of 2000 tons.

This steam iron tank ship can use a fuel boiler, and the fuel tank can carry more than 300 tons of heavy oil, and can also carry more than 1,000 tons of coal. Its full-load cruising range reaches more than 8,000 kilometers.

On the route to Europe, it is only necessary to resupply coal once.

Eight iron cargo ships produced simultaneously in several shipyards have begun to be delivered one after another. The ones docked at the dock are part of them, mainly responsible for crude oil transportation.

Another group of iron steam cargo ships, responsible for transporting kerosene to Europe, are not here.

Crude oil tankers and kerosene tankers should not be confused. This is because crude oil is like thick gray-black mud with a lot of impurities, and it easily solidifies at room temperature, turning into a large, sticky lump.

Therefore, steam pipes are laid at the bottom of crude oil transport ships. They are used to heat the crude oil during loading and unloading, softening it into a mucus-like substance before transporting it to a petrochemical plant for distillation and processing.

The distillation process is very simple, basically the same as wine making.

The boiling point of kerosene is around 230°C, slightly higher than that of fresh water. When heated to this temperature, kerosene will turn into thick steam and flow out from the upper part of the distillation kettle. After condensation through the pipeline, what flows out is pure kerosene.

Pure kerosene is clear in color, ignites easily, has very few impurities when burned, and has a pleasant smell.

If the heating is continued, petroleum gas will be produced, which will continue to leak out from the top of the distillation kettle. This thing cannot be stored and has no place to be used.

Therefore, in petrochemical refineries, it is generally used as a combustion aid and is re-injected into the combustion furnace through pipes to make the coal burn more violently.

After LPG and kerosene are extracted, gasoline is distilled out again.

Because of its flammable nature, it was widely used in the Chu State for purposes such as burning wasteland, and was used in large quantities. It was transported in large wooden barrels.

There were two gasoline explosion accidents in the State of Chu. A 280-ton single-masted cargo ship and another 79-ton sailing cargo ship instantly exploded into a huge torch. A total of sailors on the two ships were killed.

When it comes to transporting gasoline, almost everyone in the shipping company shudders.

But gasoline still makes a significant contribution. When developing areas with more rain on Shangri-La Island, a large amount of gasoline must be used to destroy forests and burn them, and then the fire is extinguished and then ignited again, and this can be repeated several times.

In the rainy areas of Shangri-La Island, the tropical jungles are generally humid, mosquitoes breed there, and it was originally a daunting green desert.

However, with gasoline, we have a powerful weapon to deal with the green desert.

Burning on Shangri-La Island is often accompanied by a large amount of smoke and miasma. When the fire occurs, the smoke billows thickly, covering the sky and the sun.

However, as the fire continued to burn, it stopped burning. In many places, there was only thick smoke but no flames, and the fiercely expanding fire line gradually went out.

at such a time

Flammable materials such as gasoline can come in handy. Every now and then, pour gasoline on the burned trees, ignite them, and they will soon continue to burn fiercely.

The strong flames and high temperatures will quickly drain the moisture from the forest, making it easy to burn, and the process of deforestation and burning will be greatly accelerated.

Repeated large-scale deforestation and burning have also thoroughly disinfected the local tropical rainforest environment.

Countless mosquitoes, flies and poisonous insects died in the intense flames and the ubiquitous thick smoke. After the fire, the whole world became clean.

Especially the troublesome tropical shrubs, which are almost reduced to ashes after the fire.

It becomes organic fertilizer and is buried deep in the soil, contributing to a good harvest next year. It is a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.

If more fields can be burned, water-loving crops such as sugarcane can be grown on a larger scale, which will strongly support the regional economy of New Xi'an and Donggang and accommodate more Chinese immigrants.

Given the vast territory of Shangri-La Island, even if only one or two percent of the land were reclaimed, it would be enough to accommodate tens of millions of Chinese immigrants.

From this perspective
Gasoline has made outstanding and irreplaceable contributions to the land-sweeping and colonization efforts in the Shangri-La region.

Generally, oil is refined to this extent. What can be collected at high temperature is heavy oil, and the sticky and thick substance that cannot be collected is asphalt.

Both substances are useful. Heavy oil can be used to assist combustion in oil-fired boilers, greatly increasing the calorific value of coal, and has great prospects for use in shipping.

Asphalt is used directly for paving roads, and mixed gravel paving is the best.

This use has long been promoted in Western countries, and the Chu State can just follow suit, giving priority to using it to solidify the roads in the surrounding areas of Batangas and make them asphalt.

Yes, the only oil refinery in Chu State is in Batangas.

Firstly, Batangas was the heavy industrial center of the Chu Kingdom. Secondly, it was located near Manila, which provided high security and could stimulate surrounding industries. The third reason was the King of Chu's ulterior motive: he planned to build Greater Manila into the most advanced, developed, and economically advanced region in the entire kingdom.

Only in this way
The Chu State had a strong centripetal force, which was very important for an emerging immigrant country and was by no means dispensable.

The reason why the roads in the Manila area were not asphalted first is mainly due to the lag in railway tanker transportation, and there is currently no train capable of transporting asphalt.

Once this problem is solved and the Hainan Islands are the first to achieve asphalt road construction, it will greatly improve the city's appearance and sharply raise the level of urban construction to a higher level.

Even compared with those beautiful cities in later generations, it is not inferior.

The king and his ministers were in a relaxed mood during the inspection, chatting and laughing all the way, and soon arrived at a bungalow beside the oil field to rest, drink some tea and have a rest.

Governor He Xian smiled, holding a teacup in hand. "Your Majesty has blessed us with the discovery of a golden treasure in this place, a treasure unmatched by any number of gold mines. I respectfully request Your Majesty to leave some of this treasure for us."

Sure enough, people speak according to where their butt sits.

Today, Governor Ho Sin governs the three states of East Malaya and faces the heavy task of resettling a large number of Chinese immigrants, which is a considerable pressure.

If you cry poor in front of His Majesty the King, even a little bit of money will be enough to eat and drink your fill.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu took a sip of tea, turned to Wu Qingfeng, and said, "Look, my dear Wu, you're actually complaining to me, as if I've wronged you. Didn't you use the money I allocated to East Malaya last time?"

The silver that King Zheng Guohui of Chu was referring to was the redemption money for more than 30 East Malayan women, which was a huge sum of money.

The royal family used it to fill the huge hole in the war expenses, and the Chu government levied a 30% tax, which made the government's financial expenditure much more ample.

The last sum of money was allocated to East Malaya, totaling less than 400 million silver dollars, for the resettlement of immigrants, construction of cities, roads, bridges, reservoirs and other infrastructure in the three states of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei.

After all, it costs money to buy cement and steel bars, it costs money to buy steam engines, it costs money to buy equipment to build factories, and it costs money to buy food. It is impossible for money to fall from the sky.

Speaking of this
Wu Qingfeng looked at Governor He Xian with envy, wondering how this man could be so lucky?
The most lacking thing in colonial development is money. If we have money, it would not be a problem to attract 300 million immigrants a year.

As long as Chinese immigrants arrive in a certain place and provide more food seeds for settling down and land after clearing wasteland, they will generate a steady stream of income.

When immigration reaches a certain scale, the return on investment will be greater than the investment.

Wu Qingfeng said, "Your Majesty, I respectfully ask for your understanding. Governor He was concerned about the people's needs and wanted to atone for his crimes. This is indeed excusable."

"Thank you, Lord Wu, for your frank words. I am deeply afraid of disappointing Your Majesty's high hopes and am eager to make some achievements. I beg Your Majesty to forgive me." Governor He Xian hurriedly explained.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu replied calmly, "Since you are acting in the public interest, I will not punish you. I will record your offense and will not allow you to do it again."

"Your Majesty, I bow to you and thank you for your grace. I will be strict with myself and will not speak nonsense lightly." Governor He Xian stood up, clasped his hands together and bowed deeply to the ground.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu did not comment, and then changed the subject and talked about other things.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu already had a plan in mind on how to deal with the oil field profits.

That is the difference between six, three and one.

For this purpose, a special oil company will be established, named Royal Bright Oil Company, and the Chu royal family will hold 60% of the shares, which is the largest share.

This is because the war was fought by the royal army. The Royal Navy and the Royal Army were both armed forces of the Chu royal family. Without a doubt, they should get the largest share.

In the long term

The State of Chu had to vigorously build a powerful navy and continue to construct an ironclad fleet, which was an extremely costly undertaking. In addition to maintaining a naval force of more than 330 people, the total annual expenditure exceeded million silver yuan.

The salary of a naval sailor is often 8 or 5 silver dollars, while that of a senior sailor is 130 or silver dollars, and or silver dollars is normal. A naval second lieutenant officer can get a monthly salary of yuan, plus various subsidies, and the annual salary is about silver dollars.

The cost of maintaining the naval fleet is more than 180 million silver dollars a year, which is a considerable expense.

Next Step

With money in hand, the royal family had the confidence to purchase large ironclad ships to replace the sailing fleet. One ship could cost three or four hundred thousand silver dollars, which was not a small amount of money.

The retirement of 2.5 soldiers and thousands of officers from the Royal Army will save the royal family a huge amount of money.

However, a fierce war that lasted for more than seven months had exhausted the Chu State's war reserves, and a large amount of replenishment was urgently needed, which was the basis for national security.

If you want to fill up the hundreds of empty warehouses across the country, you have to allocate a budget of at least hundreds of thousands of silver dollars every year to store cannons, ammunition and guns, as well as individual equipment, tents and other military supplies. This money cannot be saved at all.

If war really breaks out, an army of tens of thousands of people can be mobilized in a flash.

Without these reliable strategic reserve materials, what can we use to equip the army? Are we really going to let the soldiers fight the enemy's muskets with swords and spears?
War is fought with consumption, which requires reserves to be accumulated bit by bit in peacetime.

This year and next year
Taking advantage of the opportunity after the victory of the war, the State of Chu planned to further expand the scale of immigration, from the current annual average of more than 220 million to about 300 million, which also requires sufficient financial support.

The Royal Bright Petroleum Company gave the government 30% of its shares as a tax. Dozens of prefectures and counties across the country are actively building and the development momentum is very good.

What drives urban construction and expansion is money. No matter how much money is given to the royal government, it will never be enough.

The remaining 10% is reserved for the benefits of East Malaya.

With this 10% benefit, Governor He Xian was already very happy.
This 5% benefit is estimated to be worth several million silver dollars throughout the year, about million silver dollars.

This is just an estimate of the current production scale. Three barrels of crude oil can be refined into one barrel of kerosene. The cost of shipping from Batangas is calculated at 62 silver dollars per barrel. Transporting it to Europe by sea and land will increase the cost of each barrel by 5.2 silver dollars.

The reason for this large number is that the steam tank ships had to be emptied back out.

Or clean up the space and transport some oils back, such as soybean oil, olive oil, etc., as other goods are difficult to load.

In Europe, there must also be extremely powerful traders who are able to diversify sales and have the ability to come up with large sums of money.

Invisibly, some of the benefits must be shared.

In this way

It can be sold at a good price of more than one hundred silver dollars per barrel in the European market. Only British companies can do this, and perhaps the French can get involved.

Anyway, the cake is big enough to satisfy the appetites of British and French businessmen.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu planned to run the kerosene bulk business through a trading company that had close ties with the British royal family, thereby transferring benefits to the British royal family in disguise.

With interests involved, it will be more convenient to act in the future.

(End of this chapter)