Wang Hua, Liu Xuefei, Weng Guang'an, Sheng Dehong and other children gathered together in a rare fashion.

The party was at the Penglai Restaurant in Qingdao Port, a restaurant that middle and upper class people often visit. It mainly sells Shandong cuisine, and the owner is the famous Xu Hao.

There is no doubt that the four people sitting are not inferior people from any point of view. As second-generation women, they have inherent wealth, connections and power: After raising money for the last time, Wang Huadu has successfully occupied more than 7% of the shares in the East Coast Gas Company, becoming the largest private shareholder of this large trust enterprise. In the future, neither wealth nor power should fall behind. Although Liu Xuefei, who works in the Natural Science Research Institute, did not become a shareholder of an enterprise like Wang Huadu, she is the eldest daughter of former President Liu Weimin.

However, he is a shareholder of Dongban Company. His economic strength cannot be underestimated and his political status is incomparable. Weng Guang'an is somewhat similar to Liu Xuefei, but after he independently presided over some projects, he has now broken out of the scientific research system and transferred to the director of Yazihu ​​Match Factory. He has obtained 2% of the company's shares through equity incentives and other methods. In addition, he has invested in purchasing another 3% of the company. He is also the largest natural person shareholder of the factory. Weng Guang'an, who controls the fate of the factory, has begun to enter the increasingly broad market, and his "money prospects" are indeed very favored.

As for the last one, Sheng Dehong, although he had no special property under his name and was not the eldest son or daughter at home, he had a very good personal ability. He was only in his early thirties and was already at the throne of the director of the Overseas Department of the State Administration of Information and had planned famous incidents such as the turn of British South African Army officers, and was also considered an extraordinary figure.

These people can be said to be the epitome of the second generation of the East Coast. They are generally just over the age of the government, enterprises and military systems, and have considerable work experience, and have gradually gathered a group of people under their command. In the future, they can make a smooth transition when they take over the full shift, so that the country will not experience undue turmoil.

Of course, there are also second-generation people doing business at home and abroad (mostly non-first sons), and there are quite a lot of people like this (after all, there are too many monks, there are few pits, and there are only talented people doing scientific research). The business conditions are good and bad, but the overall situation is good (Isn't that nonsense...). Among these people, perhaps only some of them can make their own businesses bigger and stronger and become an important force in the business world, but most people are destined to be ordinary wealthy families. It is enough to live a prosperous life for their children and grandchildren, and they can save a lot of property for their descendants, but there is still a big gap with the top figures in those countries.

But there is nothing to do about this. There are too many people wearing second generations. Society is originally pyramid-shaped. Even the group of wearing second generations cannot be avoided. They will be divided into different levels, especially those who cannot hold shares in the East Coast Company. Some of them can improve their class in the social pyramid through their own efforts, and some people can maintain their own class, but some people are destined to slip into their own class. This is an inevitable thing and is the law of human society.

Fortunately, the four people sitting in the Penglai restaurant are in a good position in the East Coast pyramid, and they still have room for further progress. Even if they cannot jump to the top class in the future, it is a high probability that they will become one of the upper class. Therefore, the few people are a little excited when they are chatting, and the topics are related to their respective work.

"The East Coast Gas Company is getting bigger and bigger now. There are so many people using your gas lamps. In the past, it may have been limited to mines and factories. Now even some high-end restaurants are used, and they are second-generation products. I am really envious." Liu Xuefei is a person who doesn't pursue much in material life, so she is really happy about the development of East Coast Gas Company. She installed such a set at home, which is also a second-generation system for lighting in restaurants, kitchens, living rooms and other places.

Speaking of this second-generation gas lamp system, the first generation has improved the gas purification and filtration system. Through the washing of lime water, most of the impurities in the gas are removed, causing the unique odor of the gas lamp to disappear a lot, which has caused this new lighting system to enter residents' homes.

It is reported that Wang Huadu is lobbying everywhere to fully lay the construction of gas pipelines in major cities in China (at present, only some big cities have laid short pipelines for experimental purposes) and concentrated on lighting in cities. This huge plan is undoubtedly "engaging" (a praise in the report of the Businessman), but it is also expensive. At least at present, the national finance cannot afford money - they even have no money to complete the renovation of water supply facilities in each county and the construction of urban water supply systems - there is no other way except to raise funds from the society or borrow from overseas.

It is naturally impossible to borrow overseas because it involves many sensitive political and security issues, and Wang Huadu himself is unwilling to share this piece of fat with foreigners, so he can only raise funds from the private sector, which is actually issuing bonds. However, perhaps because he has been criticized by some "short-quality railway stocks and bonds" over the years (the "Businessman" once criticized the stocks of the grassland railway that cheated people because it was completely unable to give back to investors, and it was simply looting middle-class families on the East Coast) for fear of being cheated. He let the advertisements of the East Coast Gas Company be spoiled, but no one is willing to buy some of the additional stocks issued by the company, only willing to buy mortgaged bonds, and must be fixed interest rates, otherwise no one will care about it.

Such a deserted sales situation has greatly delayed the pace of raising funds by East Coast Gas Company. At present, only some limited funds have been raised to complete the construction of a small part of the pipeline in the capital Dongfang County, and the progress is extremely slow. Wang Hua was also very anxious about this situation, because he knew that pipelines were king and knew that if he could not take the lead in occupying the territory at this time, it would be hard to say what would happen in the future. Because God knows that the government would be profitable when it sees this project, or for anti-monopoly purposes, a large central enterprise such as "National Lighting Company" and "National Gas Company" was established again to start building gas lamp pipelines in various cities. Wang Hua did not sit on wax? This is not an unfair worry, but a fact that it is entirely possible. Although East Coast Gas Company is also a large state-owned enterprise, it is difficult to know what the above people think.

Therefore, facing Liu Xuefei's joke, Wang Huadu just waved his hand in distress and said, "Don't mention this. I'm just one. If you have any money you don't need, hurry up and buy the additional stocks or bonds issued by our company, and you won't suffer any losses. Our company has obtained permission to build gas lamp pipelines in five counties in Dongfang County, Qingdao County, Ping'an County, Zhenhai County and Xihu County, but it is in a state of waiting for rice to be put into the pot, which is very depressed. Everyone, this is a great opportunity to make money. Once the pipeline is built and the gas lamp system is operating normally, you can sit at home and count money in the future. This kind of long-lasting business should be the most in line with the investment needs of all the 'big players'?"

"Who bought your broken company's stock? If you have money, I will continue to invest in the match factory project. The output of * potassium chlorate is still quite unstable, and the output of matches is also unstable. Alas, I still have a lot of fun things to realize one by one. Who will invest in your broken company?" Weng Guang'an, who was sitting next to drinking tea, scrubbed his messy hair and said in a mocking tone: "Your broken gas lamp has a strange smell that cannot be explained clearly. It is not delicious to eat in a restaurant. I really can't figure out how there is a market. Your R&D is so bad. It's so small that you can't solve the problem of removing the strange smell. Humph, let's get rid of the R&D supervisor, there's nothing wrong."

It is said that since the East African Transportation Company allocated a 650-ton flute-shaped ship to specifically run the local route in Djibouti, the raw material bottleneck of the Yazihu ​​Match Factory under the jurisdiction of Weng Guang'an has been greatly alleviated. The input of foreign potassium salts (currently only one ship of potassium salt is transported back a year), the output of *potassium chlorate has been increased to a certain extent. However, another major raw material for preparing *potassium chlorate is *calcium chlorate, which is required to be taught to the Northern Chemical Factory, which is more difficult to deal with, because many of the by-products of the soda ash production line of the factory have been invested in the production of bleach and bleach. These two things are in great demand. Paper, textile, water supply and other enterprises are simply in short supply. The consumption of the Yazihu ​​Match Factory is very limited, which undoubtedly restricts the production of the match.

At present, Weng Guang'an is already looking for a new method to prepare potassium chlorate, intending to bypass the demand for raw materials for northern chemical plants. However, it seems that there is no clue yet. The crocodile matches, which have received a warm market response, can only produce them in a row with limited supply of raw materials, and at the same time, it is also a tragic thing to provide limited supply of the market.

Speaking of breaking the bottleneck of raw material supply, Weng Guang'an accidentally discovered a second element in the halogen group except chlorine when trying to use seaweed, kelp and other plants to extract potassium salts. This halogen group element, which was later named "iodine" by the Academy of Natural Sciences, has been studied for a while. Under the direct guidance of Song Qiang, the director of the retired Northern Chemical Factory (perhaps the appearance of iodine has evoked some of his memories...), it was linked to medical use, namely, iodine used for disinfection, treatment of hyperthyroidism, etc. - When the latter still needs time to verify, even on the current East Coast, the disease of hyperthyroidism cannot be called a disease, and most people turn a blind eye to it.

But no matter what, the unexpected occurrence of iodine will definitely have a driving effect on the progress of the East Coast chemistry and medicine industry. The only regret is that the patent of this "little thing" was forced to be transferred to the Northern Pharmaceutical Factory (for which Weng Guang'an and his assistants received a patent transfer fee of 2,000 yuan). From then on, it has nothing to do with Weng, but as the discoverer, Weng Guang'an's name will naturally appear in future chemistry textbooks from the East Coast and even countries around the world. This is undoubtedly the supreme honor and may be more attractive than making a lot of money.

Seeing Weng Guang'an and Wang Hua defame each other, Liu Xuefei smiled and said nothing. The soda ash production workshop of the Northern Chemical Factory, which is currently a technical consultant, not only produces hundreds of tons of soda ash per year, but also produces by-products with significant economic value such as caustic soda, sulfur, bleach (agent), with a total annual sales of more than 200,000 yuan. As a famous researcher at the Institute of Natural Sciences, she provides designated technical support for the Northern Chemical Factory, and can also receive huge dividends from dry shares every year, and at most, it can also cost thousands of yuan.

This money, plus the dividends of Dongban Company's shares, and the output of some of her own industries are enough to support her continuing her research in her beloved chemical industry - it is obvious that this is a private investment research out of interest, and the output and patents are naturally owned by herself - her interest has now shifted to dyes. To be more precise, she has developed a strong interest in aniline dyes made of coal tar as raw materials.

In fact, on the east coast today, the utilization of coal tar is not thorough. A large amount of coal tar produced by the coking plant has no other use except for the dye factory to produce dyes such as aniline purple (if coal tar waste residue such as asphalt is not included), it is a pity that a lot of resources have been wasted.

Moreover, the current production of dye plants is also very painful. Because some important intermediate chemicals (such as strong oxidants, etc.) cannot be produced in industrialized and can only be prepared in laboratories, chemical dyes such as aniline purple and anilin black can only be in a semi-laboratory production state, which directly affects production. So you can see that even though the chemical dyes produced on the East Coast are better than plant or mineral dyes in European countries in all aspects, due to insufficient production, most of the market can only be watched by natural dyes such as cochinear red (produced from New Spain), lactoworm (produced from India), madder (currently basically monopolized by the Netherlands), indigo (produced a lot in the Caribbean Sea and British colonies in North America), Brazilian Sumu (not explained...), yellow wood, cabbage (brown dye, produced from India), olive grass, saffron, acrobatic red and other natural dyes.
Chapter completed!