1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 103 Planning ahead
Using charcoal as the main fuel to smelt iron is a metal smelting plan that has been decided by the executive committee long ago, but it seems that there are still some big and small problems in the actual application - to ensure a certain scale of pig iron production The problem is not big, but if you want to expand the scale of production, it is not easy to achieve.

The biggest problem with charcoal is that the production time is too long to pass through many charcoal kilns currently used. It takes at least five days for each kiln to process carbon from feeding to carbon output.And the charcoal that took five days to burn was barely enough to smelt a furnace of pig iron in the metallurgical workshop, which made the consumption of charcoal much faster than production. The only solution was to increase the production capacity of charcoal.

But this is not something that can be solved by building a few more charcoal kilns. For each new charcoal kiln, the corresponding logging team must increase by at least 30 to [-] people.Because fuel has become a strategic reserve material, the current logging team has basically stopped using chainsaws and can only rely on axes and saws to harden them. The labor efficiency can be imagined.Moreover, the charcoal produced is not only supplied to the metallurgical workshop. At present, almost all the places under the jurisdiction of the Crossing Group that use open flames have switched to charcoal as fuel.More than half of the production of the six charcoal kilns in operation is supplied to the metallurgical workshop, and the rest is divided among other units.According to the current development trend, there will only be more and more projects that require fuel. For example, the steam engine that will be put into practical use soon is also a bottomless pit of fuel consumption.

According to the calculations of Bai Kesi and Liu Xingli, if the metallurgical workshop needs to add another iron-making furnace, at least four to five new charcoal kilns must be built to ensure the smooth progress of production.Considering the investment of steam engines in the future, the number of new charcoal kilns may have to reach more than ten.Such a scale will immediately turn the logging team into the unit with the largest number of staff under the executive committee, even surpassing the sum of the current two communes. At that time, I am afraid that a logging commune will be established to manage this unit. Row.But even if one more iron-making furnace is added, the output of pig iron still cannot meet the various development plans drawn up by the executive committee, and fuel has become the biggest bottleneck in expanding pig iron production capacity.

Bai Kesi's explanation made the executive committee members immediately realize the seriousness of the problem, and Ning Qi hurriedly asked: "How much impact will the stagnation of pig iron production have on our development plan?"

Beks glanced at his notebook and said: "If the production of pig iron does not increase significantly within this year, then the various plans we made before will be delayed, such as the large-scale use of steam engines in industrial production, the manufacture of large-caliber coastal defense The output of guns, iron products, etc. will be affected to varying degrees.”

"It means that we must get enough coal as soon as possible..." Tao Donglai had already understood what Beks meant, and nodded slowly.

"Even if it is to make steel, we must get coal!" Beks said firmly: "Let's not talk about the distance, I will only talk about the most direct impact. Without steel, there are many parts in the steam engine we build. The strength of the steam engine cannot meet the requirements, which will seriously affect the efficiency and life of the steam engine."

"I remember reading some information before. When domestic iron and steel were being smelted by local methods, it seems that the local blast furnaces built by the people also used charcoal as fuel?" Gu Kai asked in a daze.

"Not to mention charcoal, there are even those that use wood directly. But that kind of indigenous steelmaking method can't produce any qualified products at all. The farmers took all their iron pots and kitchen knives to melt them, and finally got a pile of scrap iron That’s all. The output of steel and iron in 58 was over [-] million tons, but the actual qualified products were only the products of state-owned steel factories, and the millions of tons of soil, steel, and iron produced by private smelting were almost all waste products. We are now going to make It's industrial production, not social movement." After finishing speaking, Bex stared at Gu Kai, which made the liberal arts student shut up in shame.

"There is no coal in the south of Hainan. There are coal mines in Danzhou and Qiongzhou in the north, but they produce lignite, which is not very suitable as a fuel for smelting steel. In fact, the coal we bought from Yazhou before , most of them are lignite transported from northern Hainan.” Tao Donglai added: “If we want to buy better coal and coke, we probably can only find a way from Guangzhou.”

"Buying from Guangzhou, the consumption of coming and going, it is better to mine and dig coal by yourself." Yan Chujie said slowly: "I think it is necessary to advance the development plan of overseas coal mines."

The so-called Overseas Coal Mine Development Plan is a mining plan for the Hon Gai Coal Mine in Vietnam, which was formulated by the Preparatory Committee before crossing. This coal field located in Ha Long Bay in Northeast Vietnam has more than 20 billion tons of coal reserves and is the largest coal field in Southeast Asia. One of them is also the nearest giant coal mine to Hainan, only a hundred nautical miles away from the west coast of Hainan Island.The coal seams here are thick and the topsoil is thin, which is conducive to open-pit mining, and the quality of the coal is excellent, basically anthracite and coking coal, and there are several natural harbors. An important flag in the development plan.

When the Preparatory Committee formulated the plan, the Hongji Coal Mine was not an eager target for development.The Preparatory Committee intends to bring the southern and western coastal areas of Hainan Island under its control, then develop the Hongji Coal Mine and Shilu Iron Mine at the same time, and build the largest coal-iron complex in Southeast Asia in Shilu.In the overall development plan of the Preparatory Committee, this step is actually formulated as a mid-to-long-term goal, but it never thought that the plan would not change quickly. The Preparatory Committee thought it could survive by relying on self-produced charcoal and imported coal coke. In the initial development stage, they did not expect that in less than three months after the crossing, fuel has become the biggest bottleneck restricting industrial production.

"To develop the Hongji Coal Mine, we need to solve two problems." Ning Qi said, wringing his fingers, "First, manpower. If there is not enough manpower, even if we go there to mine, there will not be enough production to supply the base camp. Second, capacity. With our current level of capacity, I am afraid it will be difficult to meet actual needs.”

"I don't think this is a problem that can't be solved." Yan Chujie seemed to have considered this, and immediately responded: "In terms of manpower arrangement, we don't need to send too many people from the headquarters, we just need to choose some from the current commune. Hard-working people move there, and we can directly hire most of the miners locally. To develop the Hongji Coal Mine, what we need is a local management team and an armed force sufficient to ensure safety.”

"However, what is the situation in Vietnam at this time? The regime there should be called Annan now, right? If we rashly open mines there, will it cause hostility?" Tao Donglai asked with some concern.Although the level of force of the Vietnamese is not much higher than that of the guards of the Ming Dynasty, if they want to build overseas bases across the ocean, open mines, set up ports, and station manpower, they have to consider safety first. question.The domestic situation in Vietnam at this time is definitely an important reference.

Ning Qi, a history buff, was the only one present who could answer this question. He cleared his throat and gave a brief explanation of what Tao Donglai asked.

At the beginning of the 15th century, Vietnam was occupied by the Ming Dynasty army for nearly 20 years. At that time, Vietnam was called "Annan Country". , changed the name of Vietnam to "Jiaozhi". Vietnam regained its independence in 1427, and the Ming Dynasty government canonized the then puppet monarch as "King Annan". After that, Annan fell into civil strife that lasted for 200 years.

In the middle of the 16th century, due to years of wars, Annan even fell into a situation where the north and the south were divided.It was not until the end of the 16th century that the general of the Later Le Dynasty, Zheng Song, defeated the Mo Dynasty entrenched in the north, allowing the Le Dynasty to unify Annan.However, Annan, which was plagued by disasters, did not usher in peace because of this. Soon the Le Dynasty became a political puppet, and the new power ministers Zheng and Nguyen rose in the north and south respectively, forming a confrontation between the North and the South again.

"This means that the current Vietnam... No, it should be Annan, who is on the verge of a civil war? That's good, maybe our first arms deal can fall on these monkeys!" Yan Chujie heard this immediately Then excited.Are war-torn countries scary?It may be true for the local people, but for people with ulterior motives, a war-torn country often means huge benefits.

"In fact, in 1627, which is the period we are now in, the North and the South have already gone to war. From this year until 45 years later, the opposing sides have waged a total of seven large-scale wars, and until the last The result is still a draw." Ning Qi obviously agrees with Yan Chujie's views, and continued: "If we can make good use of the current domestic situation in Annan, the benefits that can be brought to us are not only the export of arms, but also a large number of fleeing Refugees in the war zone are also human resources that we can make full use of. If we can accommodate enough manpower, we can even directly separate one side from the local area, forming a region independent of the local government like Sanya.”

Thinking that there may be tens of thousands of war refugees, the eyes of the executive committee members present immediately turned red, and this war will continue in Annan's country for decades, which means that there will be a large number of refugees during this period Constantly produced.This large population, not to mention the development of the Hongji Coal Mine, as long as it is used properly, can really support a new puppet regime in the Beibu Gulf area as Ning Qi said.

Tao Donglai slapped the table heavily: "Whether it's population or coal, we have to take it down!"

(End of this chapter)