183: Chapter 183 Our competitors are idiots!

The Indian South Continent has a vast amount of oil, as well as a vast amount of guano.

This became the direction of Zhao Fusu's future operations.

He didn't intend to invade the Indian Continent, but rather to bring civilization to the Indians.

Once the Indians started living the good life, they could just count their lucky stars for the privilege of being ruled by him.

Zhao Fusu continued looking through the books to see how to obtain benzene.

Under the action of a catalyst, Naphtha undergoes dehydrogenation and cyclization of alkanes and cycloalkanes to produce aromatics—namely benzene, Toluene, and Xylene.

The catalysts are tin and platinum; tin is an important material for making bronze, which Great Qin already possessed.

Platinum often exists in nature in its native mineral state and is extremely dispersed. It is mostly obtained through the enrichment and extraction of native platinum ore.

Looking at the distribution of native platinum ore, Zhao Fusu only needed to follow the map to find it.

Now he needed to secure the strong oxidizing agent, Potassium Dichromate.

In industry, Potassium Chromate is prepared using the alkaline fusion method of Chromite, and the raw materials used are Chromite, Sodium Carbonate, Limestone, and Potassium Chloride.

This Potassium Chloride is refined from rock salt Carnallite.

Zhao Fusu looked at the distribution of Chromite and rock salt Carnallite.

He discovered that within the Kingdom of Loulan, among the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions, there were vast amounts of Chromite and rock salt Carnallite.

Zhao Fusu was very puzzled; why was the country of Loulan built right on top of his Chromite and rock salt Carnallite mines?

He decided to check in first to calm his nerves.

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining the industrial preparation method for Potassium Fertilizer and a distribution map of potassium mines."

The system's pleasant voice reached Zhao Fusu's ears.

Zhao Fusu looked at the introduction to Potassium Fertilizer.

The main role of Potassium Fertilizer is to improve crop resistance and enhance their ability to resist pests and diseases, while also improving crop quality and increasing yield.

As a common agricultural input, Potassium Fertilizer has a significant impact on crop growth and yield.

"Increasing yield!"

When Zhao Fusu saw the importance of Potassium Fertilizer, he immediately could not sit still.

He dreamed of increasing Great Qin's crop yields.

Potassium Fertilizer could improve crop quality and increase yield; he had to produce a large amount of it.

Common potassium ores are mainly Sylvinite and Carnallite.

"Carnallite?"

Zhao Fusu was startled.

This stuff seemed to come from rock salt Carnallite mines!

Which were widely distributed in the Kingdom of Loulan!

Sylvinite mines were also distributed in the Kingdom of Loulan.

After Zhao Fusu learned that there were vast potassium deposits within Loulan, he fell into deep confusion.

Talk about a coincidence—the country of Loulan was built right on top of his potassium mines again!

Zhao Fusu also discovered that within the territory of Loulan, there was a salt lake containing over 50 billion tons of Sodium Chloride, enough to supply a global population of 60 billion for nearly 1,000 years!

Whether humans or animals, none can live without salt.

The importance of salt was recognized very early on.

It is said that in ancient times, the wars between the Yellow Emperor, the Flame Emperor, and Chiyou were all related to the struggle for salt resources.

Zhao Fusu smiled.

This was just too perfect. Loulan, oh Loulan, why did you build your country on my salt works again!

The value of attacking Loulan was immense.

Zhao Fusu changed his mind; he planned to attack Loulan first.

Loulan was controlled by the Xiongnu; it was essentially a little brother to the Xiongnu people.

Zhao Fusu was already prepared to fight the Xiongnu.

He would start by practicing on the Xiongnu's little brother.

Zhao Fusu spread out a map and began working on it.

He was drawing the marching route from Xianyang to the Kingdom of Loulan.

The more he drew, the more he felt something was off.

This distance was a bit long!

From Xianyang to Loulan, the straight-line distance alone was 1,800 kilometers!

When marching, it's impossible to go in a straight line; with all the turns and detours, the total distance would be between 2,500 and 2,600 kilometers!

"Fuck!"

Zhao Fusu felt as if a bucket of cold water had been splashed in his face.

With such a long distance, unless he had planes, it would be winter by the time they got there. What kind of war could they fight then?

In winter, not only do firearms tend to have problems, but the enemies also wear more clothes; when bullets hit them, their lethality is greatly reduced.

Moreover, fighting in an extremely cold environment results in too many non-combat losses.

Whether it was Napoleon or the Western Sea fighting the Russians, the wars dragging into winter led to their defeat.

The 'Winter is Coming' scenario was too difficult to clear, so Zhao Fusu decided to give up.

Zhao Fusu could only suppress the idea of immediately attacking Loulan.

Suddenly, he thought again: since Loulan was controlled by the Xiongnu...

If he conquered the Xiongnu, wouldn't Loulan effectively fall under the control of the Great Qin Empire!

Zhao Fusu smiled.

Loulan was essentially the Xiongnu's dowry.

Not just Loulan; in the Western Regions, the Xiongnu also controlled twenty countries, including Jushi, Kucha, Gumo, and Yarkant.

As long as he subdued the Xiongnu, these twenty Western Region countries would become wedding gifts, incorporated into Great Qin's territory!

This was very satisfying!

Zhao Fusu couldn't help but laugh.

From this perspective, the upcoming campaign against the Xiongnu truly wasn't about expelling them or wiping them out completely, but rather integrating them into Great Qin.

Zhao Fusu hadn't expected that after spending half the day checking various materials and killing off a vast number of brain cells, he would end up right back where he started.

"Son of a bitch!"

Zhao Fusu cursed under his breath.

Better to get back to arranging the debut of the wool sweaters in Xianyang City!

Zhao Fusu's mood couldn't help but become nervous.

The debut of the wool sweaters must not flop!

If the wool sweaters flopped, he wouldn't be able to form a community of interests with the Xiongnu.

To sell the wool sweaters well, Zhao Fusu felt that marketing was very important.

Before Rebus started making cars, many automotive giants warned him that car manufacturing wasn't that simple; an investment of hundreds of billions could vanish into thin air just like that.

And the result?

After Rebus actually started making cars, he found it was actually a path paved with starlight.

Before the new year had even begun, Rebus's cars for the entire year were already sold out!

The hundred billion Rebus invested couldn't even be spent fast enough!

Rebus's marketing ability was definitely top-tier!

By comparison, the competitors were—morons!

President Lei once said that the best product is marketing, and the best service is marketing.

The reason Rebus's products were so popular was still due to strong product quality.

If his wool sweaters not only had an extremely low price but also eye-catching colors that made people's eyes light up, the debut performance shouldn't be too bad.

The problem returned to the dyes.

The supply of Gromwell was tight; any stock available was supplied to the nobility.

Even if he bought it at a high price, the cost of making the clothes would increase significantly.

Would it be feasible to mix dyes to create purple?

Zhao Fusu remembered that purple was formed by mixing red and blue.

In theory, by mixing red dye and blue dye, one could obtain purple dye.

Zhao Fusu began his research on dyes.