Chapter 5: Petroleum Extraction

  After the steam generator, Lei Meng planned to build a coal-fired power plant at the foot of Baishan. Electromagnetic applications soon followed, such as motors, electric fans, electromagnetic stoves... All modern electrical appliances that only need electromagnetic work were designed and manufactured, although they lacked in appearance and convenience.

  However, due to the lack of insulating materials, most of them can only be separated by ceramic firing and oil immersion; Moreover, the development of semiconductors has not yet started, lacking a large number of electronic components, which greatly restricts the promotion and application of electric power.

  After two years of rapid construction, Lei Meng and Yang Tian strolled on the new bridge in Huanyue City to admire the moonlight.

  Lei Meng had his hands behind his back and was gazing at the rough but sturdy concrete bridge, listening to the gurgling water, and asked Yang Tian on his left: "How's it going? Have you set your eyes on any pretty girls? You've been trying to pick up chicks for so long."

  "Hehe, bubbles are just fine, what's with the 'do you like it or not' nonsense." Yang Tian covered his head with both hands and looked around.

  "Cut..." Lei Meng lazily asked no more, and instead said, "Meng Fan's Tianwei Sect is getting stronger and stronger, with more and more disciples."

  "Haha, now not only are his disciples many, but even the later very arrogant Wei Ming, their Shenwu Sect's disciples are also numerous. Fortunately they are in different places, one in Baihe and one in Huangyue, otherwise conflicts would arise and it would be a bit troublesome." Yang Tian said, with his left hand holding his chest and his right hand stroking the short whiskers on his chin. He still wasn't used to having a beard, so every few days he would shave again, and as a result, he brought out the four-layered razor blade shaver, making shaving popular for a while.

  Lei Meng shook his head and said, "They can't cause much trouble. If they do, we'll directly find them troublesome. Moreover, now it's not just their disciples who have become stronger, the people of Hexi Four Cities, from white-haired old men to yellow-haired young boys, which one doesn't have two skills; the military is even more so, being trained by you to be as fierce as dragons and tigers!"

  "Haha, isn't that Luo Ming's old man over there? He always sneaks out at midnight to scare me. But now, after I trained the special forces team, he can't get in at night and can only shout loudly outside the door." Yang Tian said with a smile, pointing at Huanyue City.

  "Alright, alright! Your main tactics against him are electric nets and sniper rifles. If not for those, how could your guards have driven him out?" Lei Meng sneered. He had also come into contact with Luo Ming before and knew that he was extremely powerful, not someone ordinary people could defend against.

  "This is wisdom! The wisdom of using weapons!" Yang Tian nodded in self-satisfaction, saying to Lei Meng, "Otherwise, if others have strong martial arts skills, powerful weapons, or a large army, wouldn't they be able to defeat us and make us surrender?"

  As soon as he mentioned this, Yang Tian immediately laid out the big truth, and Lei Meng was a bit overwhelmed by his words. He hastily agreed: "Stop! Stop! Stop! You're right, I admit it, let's just drop it!"

  "Hmm, this is about right!" Yang Tian nodded in satisfaction and said proudly.

  Lei Meng stood in the middle of the bridge, stretched out his arms upwards at an angle, took a deep breath, and fresh air quickly filled his lungs. He then slowly exhaled, feeling even more invigorated.

  He turned back and pointed to the night scene below, where the magnificent city of Huáng Yuè stood tall in the darkness with its dazzling lights, saying: "Look at this bright Huáng Yuè City, how radiant it is in this primitive environment!"

  Yang Tian turned around with his hands behind his back, the night wind blowing his ponytail tied at the back of his head, swaying gently in the silvery moonlight. He suddenly felt a surge of heroic spirit rising from his feet to his waist and head, bursting forth and soaring into the sky. He laughed loudly: "Haha, with us here, this is just a small dish!"

  "Hmm, we've firmly occupied one corner. Lei Meng also felt quite proud of the current achievement, after a slight pause, he continued to ask, "Are there any movements from Huang Tian and Jin Yuan?"

  Yang Tian furrowed his brow and said, "The scouts have not reported back, the two countries are very calm about our development, they just keep trying to learn from us and improve their own strength." As for the movements of Huatian and Jin Yuan, Yang Tian had long been arranging for spies to investigate their movements, but all the intelligence he received was that there were no military mobilizations, which made him both disappointed and surprised. "Could it be that they also sent out scouts to infiltrate the four cities on the west bank?"

  "This is obvious, they must have big feet. Thunder grabbed this opportunity to ridicule Yang Tian, and then said solemnly, "As long as they don't come out to make trouble, kill one as soon as they show their head!"

  "Are you planning to develop the oil field on the west bank of the river?" Yang Tian showed a murderous intent, and was surprised that it might be a big project. Recently, only the newly discovered oil field has been counted.

  It turned out that after developing the electric motor, Lei Meng designed a drilling machine and tried to drill in the most likely place with oil and gas fields on the opposite side of Hexi City. Unexpectedly, it really drilled out a gushing black oil, which is now sealed around with cement, leaving a small mouth to burn continuously.

  Lei Meng nodded and said, "This time I came to Huangyue, it was to see how our confidentiality measures were done, to see if anyone knew I had come to Huangyue, and if anyone went to sabotage the oil well."

  "With the calm and collected way you're chatting with me here, I'm afraid that if there were any spies lurking around, they would have been caught in your trap by now." Yang Tian shook his head and sighed, he really had no complaints about Lei Ming's meticulousness.

  "Just lured the snake out of its hole, what's so great about that?" Lei Meng smiled faintly, "Let's go back, being with an ugly guy like you for a midnight chat, if it were in the past, I'd be afraid of being misunderstood as gay."

  Yang Tian slowed down a step, listening to the words that came back from the thunderous voice drifting away in front of him, and almost fell over...

  Two days later, Lei Meng returned to Hexi. The soldiers reported that nothing had happened and everything was safe. Lei Meng felt slightly relieved, indicating that Huang Tian and Jin Yuan had not yet planted any spies in Hexi. It was just unknown how the other cities were doing, possibly Huiyue would have more hidden dangers.

  Since everything is safe and sound, let's start extracting oil. Lei Meng made up his mind.

  The next day, Lei Meng took Huang Chu to the riverbank on the west side of the river, a place called Xiyuan, which was one kilometer west after crossing the bridge. Lei Meng pointed at the place with black smoke and asked Huang Chu: "Mr. Huang, have you seen this kind of thing somewhere else?"

  Huang Chu had never been to Xiyuan before, and all he knew was that the area was heavily guarded. He didn't expect to find a flammable material here. After a moment's thought, he said, "I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard of a highly flammable black liquid near Lanship City in northwest Jin."

  Lei Meng's face lit up with joy, "How far is it from here? ... Jin Yuan? ..." Lei Meng suddenly thought of something and let out a sigh, "Forget it, let's just make use of the resources we have at hand for now."

  Then, Leiming planned a piece of land not far from the west of the river as a petrified area and started laying pipes. During this period, Leiming used some simple methods to synthesize some synthetic rubber and made various gaskets for pipe connections to ensure the sealing of the pipe connections...

  The project progressed in a complex and orderly manner, with Lei Ming making loud and clear noises, while Huang Chu executed it in a dizzying array of pipes, distillation tanks, flow pipes, sedimentation pools, and steam boxes...

  Internal combustion engines using fossilized diesel products were also manufactured, ready for oil production to operate...

  It's just that without tires, without wires, and without sensors, it is still some distance away from becoming a real car.

  In the imperial palace of Haotian, Chu Wei listened to Cai Yan's report in a dimly lit study: The four cities in Hexi have completely changed their appearance, as if they no longer belong to our world. The roads there are wide and flat, even when it rains, the road will not be muddy; At night, bright lights are lit, and there is no smoke overflowing due to too many lights...

  Chu Wei listened to Cai Yan's passionate report, looking at his shining eyes, and after a long silence, asked: "Cai Yan, how do you think Haotian is living? Compared to Hexi Four Cities." Although he tacitly acknowledged that Hexi Four Cities had split off, in his heart he still didn't want to treat it as an equal entity.

  "Hmm..." Cai Yan wiped the sweat from his forehead, his eyes darting back and forth as he said, "The Heavenly River is calm and peaceful, but the four cities on the west bank are bustling with noise and activity."

  Chu Wei listened and felt a pang in his heart. It seemed that the four cities on the west of the river had already captured everyone's attention, and he was afraid that those who went there would not want to return.

  He walked to the window with his hands behind his back, gazing at the stars in the dark night and sighed: "The starlight is so brilliant, I don't know what kind of scene my territory will be like." He turned around and looked at Cai Yan who was kneeling on the ground, trembling slightly, and said softly: "Send some scouts to the four cities in Hexi, learn more things and come back, maybe this way can make me survive for a hundred years!"

  Cai Yan felt a chill in his heart, and instantly knelt down on the ground, his forehead touching the cold earth, tremblingly saying: "May your majesty's good fortune and longevity be boundless, may you reign for ten thousand years!"

  Chu Wei closed his eyes and weakly waved his hand: "Go. I need a rest."

  Cai Yan did not dare make another sound, slowly got up and retreated out.

  In the study of Jin Yuan Imperial Palace, Wang Ding leaned on the newly moved black wooden desk, staring blankly at the paper intelligence presented in his hand.

  Suddenly, a gust of wind blew in and slammed the window shut with a "bang", causing the lamp in the study to sway twice, and the room also fluctuated between light and darkness.

  Wang Ding sighed and muttered to himself: "The appearance of the four cities in Hexi is no longer what I can imagine, I really don't know what it will become after developing for decades."

  "It's okay, I've planted some moles in the team sending relatives, otherwise, who knows what the situation is like over there?" Wang Ding turned to be somewhat self-satisfied. "This thing called paper recording things is really good, clear but doesn't require paying too high a price. Wang Jinxi has merit!"

  "Someone, pass on my decree! Wang Ye has made great contributions to the production of paper, and is rewarded with 1,000 taels of gold and 1,000 taels of silver! Additionally, please have Wang Ye dispatch a merchant team to trade with the four cities west of the river!" King Ding loudly shouted out to the gate, and the guard outside received the order, and swiftly ran out.