Steel Dynasty - Chapter 690

[Chapter 689 Mining Equipment]

A rolling heat wave roared in the steel workshop. Although the weather turned cold, the craftsmen were still working with bare arms.

Sweat mixed with rust made them look dirty, but each of them seemed to be full of energy.

Since the steam locomotive was manufactured, Xiao Ming has ordered the production schedule of railway tracks to be increased. One reason is to speed up the transportation of mineral resources, and the other is to improve the efficiency of the mining industry.

Because in addition to steam locomotives needing rails, mines also need minecart rails to provide tracks for the minecarts to run.

Now that King Zhao has been destroyed, it is only a matter of time before the Zhao Kingdom is conquered. It can take as short as a month or as long as a few months before the Yu Kingdom will be basically unified.

Although the King of Chu in the south was actually acting in disobedience, he had no reason to use troops at this time. After all, the King of Chu kept all his sons in Qingzhou, and he also bowed to him, looking obedient.

The most helpless thing is that he is now powerless. The Northern War has almost wiped out the capital he accumulated in five years. Now he is facing the threat of barbarians. After weighing it, he decided to maintain the status quo and plunder the King of Chu’s wealth through commerce and trade. wealth.

So the most important thing for him now is to establish an industrial system. Only when the industrial system is complete can powerful industrial capabilities create more powerful war machines to help him conquer cities and seize resources from Western powers.

In this reform, he proposed to implement the reform based on the six states, with the purpose of quickly establishing a commercial and industrial system. After all, in the past five years, the people of the six states were no longer comparable to the people in other places ideologically under the propaganda of newspapers day after day. .

Moreover, these six states are right under his nose. Once the six states develop, it will not be too late for him to promote them to other places.

“The lower official went to see the emperor.”

Seeing Xiao Ming coming, a middle-aged man in a blue robe came over. His blue robe was embroidered with the words “Department of Equipment”. This was the person who came from the Department of Equipment to guide the production of railway tracks. of craftsmen.

This craftsman Xiao Ming is also very familiar with him. He has seniority in the equipment department. Later, after entering Bowen College, he and Lin Wentao specialized in mechanical production.

“No courtesy.”

Xiao Ming waved his hand. Now he will be protected by a large number of guards every time he travels. It is impossible not to be noticed.

Looking at the busy craftsmen, Xiao Ming asked: “Renly, how is the construction of the rail production line?”

Renli said; “Your Majesty, the current rail production line for the mine has been established. The rails of this steam locomotive The production line was put behind the emperor’s order. “

Xiao Ming nodded. Although he now wants to build a railway in Chongqing, ore is still a big problem.

So in order to enable mass production of steam locomotive rails, the problem he must solve now is the mining and metallurgical industry.

Only when the output of these two industries increases can he not worry about raw materials.

“Let me go over and take a look.”

Xiao Ming said. Now that the reform is proposed, he has to participate in it. Otherwise, if these guys are allowed to do it on their own, they will probably take a lot of detours.

These five years of independence have given Lin Wentao and others a certain amount of knowledge and practical ability. Under his guidance, he believes that establishing an industrial system step by step is not a problem.

Following Renly into the workshop, Renly took Xiao Ming directly next door to the original production workshop. After expanding production, the steel workshop added a converter. The steel produced by this converter was specially used to produce rails.

When Xiao Ming arrived at the rail production workshop, he saw the converter that was producing steel. Under the converter were grooves for transporting molten steel. Through these grooves, the molten steel directly entered the “work”-shaped iron mold.

In fact, the essence of rails is I-shaped steel, supplemented by iron die forging technology for the production of artillery, which forms the current rail production line.

“Your Majesty, now we have produced six kilometers of rails and a mine car.” Ren Li reported to Xiao Ming truthfully.

Qian Dafu used to be responsible for prospecting and establishing mines, but now even the eunuchs around Xiao Ming have not completely abandoned the mine matter.

He said excitedly, “Your Majesty, these rails and mine cars are ready to be sent to Laiwu County. This prospecting team discovered a large-scale open-pit iron mine one hundred and thirty miles southwest of Qingzhou. If a mine is built here, Qingzhou will not There is a lack of iron ore.”

Xiao Ming nodded. The prospecting team has never stopped exploring the mineral resources in Liuzhou, and iron ore was finally discovered in Laiwu County, which he had been waiting for for a long time.

Laiwu is known as the Steel City in contemporary times and is definitely a treasure. According to records of scientific and technological crystals, the Laiwu area has 55 types of minerals, mainly iron, coal, copper, gold, granite, limestone, dolomite, rare earths, and diabase. Rock, basalt, building stone, natural quartz sand, mineral water and other minerals.

Among them, the proven reserves of coal are 431.136 million tons, making it an important coal base in contemporary Shandong Province, while the proven reserves of iron ore are 463.9319 million tons, ranking first in the iron ore mines in East China.

Laiwu County is a very inconspicuous place in the Chongqing Kingdom. It is sparsely populated. Qian Dafu has visited this place many times but found nothing. Now this treasure land has finally been unearthed.

For Xiao Ming, there are coal mines and iron ores in this area, and the reserves are large, which can fully support him in establishing a modern mine.

This mine will lay railroad tracks, use mine carts to transport ore, use steam engines as power to extract underground water, and pull the mine carts.

“I think so too. Your nephew named Qian Gui is better than his master.” Xiao Ming smiled.

Qian Dafu laughed and said, “Your Majesty, Qian Gui is bold and can endure hardships. He is never afraid of places where this old slave dare not go. At this point, the old slave also feels inferior.”

For Qian Dafu , now Qian Gui is his only sustenance, after all, he only has Qian Gui as a relative.

Xiao Ming said: “This is expensive, and he is a young man worth promoting. Let him continue to work hard, and I will give him your position in a few years.”

Qian Dafu smiled happily. Xiao Ming was naturally not talking about the eunuch position, but asking Qian Gui to be in charge of the mines and prospecting.

Ren Li apologized and said, “If Laiwu County really has so much coal and iron, it would be better to build a railway there.”

“Well, it’s not just Laiwu. This railway will go from Qingzhou to Dengzhou and Youzhou, connecting six states. Mines and commerce connect the city. “

In Xiao Ming’s eyes, there is already a blueprint. As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, build roads first. As long as this is done, the overall overtaking of Western countries will be greatly accelerated.

After inspecting the rail production process, Xiao Ming felt a little at ease. The appearance of the French in the land of the Great Chongqing made him vaguely uneasy, because it meant that the West began to interfere in the affairs of the Great Chongqing. This was not good news, but also a crisis for him. The reason for the increasing feeling.

There were many external enemies, and his industry and commerce had only just begun.

(End of chapter)