Chapter 377: Any country needs oil!
These words have stuck in my head long after that day.
After the first few creatures seemingly designed to kill , the Bee Empire hasn’t been a target for attacks—just another player in an extrely competitive field of rapidly evolving insects and germs.
But I felt like it’d be a mistake to think that we won’t ever beco specific targets again. Our enemies were just biding their ti and gathering strength. Often while parasitizing on humans.
This was why, on the next Empire Council, not only I’ve given more resources to building chas and training cha pilots, but also on developing more advanced firearms like revolvers and back-loaded rifles and shotguns for bees.
Not against humans, but against smaller beasts.
Our gun developnt was already past smooth-barreled muskets, but at the mont, making sothing more advanced required too much effort per gun to arm an army.
However, Engine-See’s advancents in creation and operation of large manufactures were going to speed production imnsely in this field and many others!
“We’ve already had conveyor belts and simple machinery in furniture, cloth, paper and other types of factories, Father, but addition of large machinery will let us work with way more materials at once, yes-yes!” Things-Things said excitedly. “So of the smaller iron-arms that I’ve got blueprints for can lift entire trees with ease! Or massive blocks of living stone! Or trucks worth of coal!”
“And the cha project was a good place to test my improved floor plan for manufactures. The next ones will be even better, of course,” Workharder added smugly.
Those were all great news, but they weren’t all that I got to hear. The developnt of radio was being slowed down by research complications—the thing was not, in fact, as simple as it seed. And the telegraph was not much better.
“We can send ssages over a copper cable, but to be used outside of hives, those need good protection. The fabric we used for this is not enough. Field tests show that they get soaked, and the wetness compromises the ssages that we send,” Researchina explained. “Fabric isn’t the best material for protecting cables in general. Father, we must put people and resources into researching sothing better, or we won’t be able to develop our electric technologies further.”
After hearing this, I could only shake my head sadly.
Because Researchina was absolutely right, but I saw no quick solutions to this problem!
Natural rubber was produced from a sap of a specific tree that grew (in *my* world!) in Amazon rainforests. It could exist in this world, but it could not produce the rubber sap.
If it existed here, I saw no signs that the rubber tree was native to the Bee Empire or its surroundings. Nobody here, even people from the Vardish Empire, was using rubber.
This ant that our only other option was synthetic rubber. It existed and was widely used, but I had no idea how it was made and from what.
I never ever in my life thought to wonder about it, and now I deeply regretted it!
However, not all was lost—I rembered sothing else, and it made cheer up again.
“Researchina, I know of a material that will be imnsely helpful for cable isolation, and actually in many other things. Sadly, I have no idea how to make it… But I know of sothing else that I *know* at least from *what* to make.”
“But it’s not simple. If it was simple, then since it was relevant, you’d ntion it earlier, Father…” Researchina muttered.
“That’s right. It’s made from oil—not the usual oil but *crude* oil. It must be dug from underground, though it seeps aboveground sotis. But…” I shook my head. “I don’t know if there is much of it anywhere. Humans don’t know what to do with it except setting it on fire.”
“Fire? Like coal?” Workharder asked, now sounding much more curious.
“Yes. It’s a great fuel that can serve us in combustion engines better than ethanol. And also a lot of incredible materials can be made from it—starting with plastic that can isolate electric cables. But making plastic requires advanced chemical procedures that I don’t know.”
At the words “advanced chemical procedures” Researchina’s expression beca more and more eager with each word that left my mouth, while everybody else in the room beca equally more bored.
“Oh, does this an we have to build a hundred more laboratories for Researchina to blow up?” Workharder asked.
“Hey, they didn’t blow up, no-no! So burned, but it’s different, sister!” Things-Things protested. “We must sacrifice materials and work for progress, anyway. It’s for the Empire!”
Researchina sent them both a narrow-eyed look.
“It’s logical. No materials and no work equals no research being done.” She turned to again. “But I can’t start research without discovering the crude oil first. Whenever this happens, we can revisit this. I hope our scouts discover it quickly, because I’d like to start as soon as possible.”
“I hope you can make radio in the anti, at least. It doesn’t need rubber or plastic, right? I hope it doesn’t. Since the telegraph is put on hold for now, as well as other things, you can focus on that,” I told her.
As for the discovery of crude oil, although I gave orders to look out for it, there was no saying if we will find it nearby at all.
There was nothing worse than to spawn on the other side of the world from a vital resource, but this absolutely could happen to us.
But at least, the war in Eastern Expanse Reach was going well for us and badly for the Vardish Empire. After taking Castle Soneraht, our forces had almost full control of the entire region, which they used to take several important, but badly defended, locations.
Now they were on their way to the coast. If they took the main harbor where the Vardish ships moored, they will be able to block any future reinforcents from reaching this continent—and the Eastern Empire Reach will beco truly ours!
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