Ming Zuo

Steel is the bread of industry.

To industrialize and modernize a country, the production of steel has always been a top priority.

Although Xia Jun's demand for steel has plummeted, the demand for steel has always been strong in other industrial fields within the Xia Kingdom.

Zuo Menggeng finished his military related work and immediately began to care about the steel issue.

He personally inspected Dongping Iron and Steel Works and saw gratifying changes here.

"The new smelting furnace has been improved many times, and it has been gradually perfected. This new method has greatly increased the output of steel. Today, three steel plants are enough to meet the construction needs of the whole country."

Jiang Wei accompanied Zuo Menggeng as he walked in the smoky steel factory, while proudly introducing him to the current industrial changes.

Iron and steel smelting in Xia Kingdom has finally reached the stage of open hearth furnace steel smelting.

Although the blast furnace ironmaking in the past can often produce molten steel, the output and efficiency are very impressive.

In order to obtain enough steel, the only way to do it is through hard work.Even with the help of a hydraulic forging hammer, the output and cost are still high.

Fortunately, Xia Guo has always paid attention to rewarding and protecting the inventions of craftsmen, which makes the enthusiasm of craftsmen very high.

Some iron and steel engineers combined what they learned in college, worked hard for several years, and finally made the open hearth furnace.

With this thing, the industrial production of steel has finally become a reality.

The Qingbei Bridge was able to be put into construction because of the outbreak of steel production.Otherwise, that much rebar would be enough to bankrupt the project.

Now there are three major iron and steel factories in Xia Country.

In addition to the Dongping Iron and Steel Works at the foot, there are Laiyang Iron and Steel Works and Xuzhou Iron and Steel Works.

Due to transportation restrictions, today's steel plants rely on ore producing areas.On-site mining, on-site smelting, and on-site deep processing.

The benefit is that a large number of industrial workers have gathered in the three areas, and the surrounding area has become extremely prosperous.

Although the iron and steel plant and supporting enterprises released a lot of smoke and dust into the air, making the nearby air quality very bad, but no one cared about it.

It is also impossible for Zuo Menggeng to engage in environmental protection.

The biggest task facing the Chinese nation today is to use the torrent of steel to strengthen the country as much as possible, occupy more land, and create enough fertile territory for the future generations to thrive.

Other than that, nothing else matters.

"How much is the current output?"

Lin Jianchen, director of Dongping Iron and Steel Works, has the data at his fingertips.

"Now the annual output can reach [-] tons of steel and [-] tons of iron. The equipment in our Dongping Iron and Steel Plant has been used for a long time, and even the open hearth furnace is the original model, which is not too big, so we can only produce so much. A lot. Like the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant, all the equipment is new, and the output is more than three times that of ours.”

Zuo Menggeng personally checked the data and found that the three major iron and steel plants had already made history.

The output of one million tons of steel per year is already the highest in the world.Coupled with the production of iron, it is more than twenty times the sum of all countries in the world today.

Daming had the highest steel output during the Wanli period, but it was only more than [-] tons, which was not even a fraction of Xia Guo's.

Based on this comparison, if a war really broke out, Daming would have to be flattened.

Lin Jianchen also casually reported a piece of good news.

"Qin Guoshi and Li Guoshi have already applied the steam engine to weaving. We have seen it in person, and the efficiency is amazing. We just wait for them to make the steam engine bigger so that it can be used in steel smelting."

Only then did Zuo Menggeng see that the preheating air of the open hearth furnace was actually pushed by a steam engine.

It's just that the power of a single steam engine is too low to keep up with the air consumption of the open hearth furnace.Therefore, five steam engines were installed in one go at the iron and steel plant, and combined power was used to push preheated air into the open hearth furnace.

He hurriedly moved closer to see how the steam engine was put into use.

Fu Xinyuan hastily stopped him.

"Your Highness, according to the security system, you are not allowed to approach such dangerous things."

Zuo Menggeng didn't come up in one breath, just about to reprimand, Jiang Wei and Lin Jianchen turned out to have the same attitude.

"The operation of the steam engine is not stable enough now, and it will break every three days or so. At the worst time last time, it even exploded, killing two workers. You are a precious body, and you must not come close."

Only then did Zuo Menggeng's anger dissipate.

It's just that it doesn't look very real from a distance, which makes him feel very regretful.

Lin Jianchen noticed it, and quickly got up and explained in detail.

"In order to overcome the shortcomings of the steam engine's unstable operation, Qin Guoshi and Li Guoshi invented a method. They borrowed from the construction method, surrounded the steam engine with bricks and fixed it from the outside. In this way, the operation was much more stable. can be put into industrial production.”

Zuo Menggeng looked at it from a distance, and then realized that the steam engine used in the open hearth furnace was very similar to the cooking stove used by ordinary farmers.

There is an oval object similar to an iron pot in the middle, surrounded by masonry and cement to form a shelf.Most of the steam engine is buried in such a building, and then several pipes extend out to connect with the open hearth.

It turns out that historical steam engines used this method for quite a long time when they were put into industrial production.

This steam engine was restored in the movie "Once Upon a Time: The Lion King".

This is also the best way to maintain the stability of the steam engine when the level of industrial manufacturing is insufficient.

It's a pity that this method can be used to fix the steam engine on land.But at sea, in front of the rough waves, there is no good way for the time being.

Hearing that the steam engine is most used in textile factories, Zuo Menggeng couldn't sit still for a moment, and hurried to inspect the garment production department of the logistics department.

When Wang Xiuqin accompanied him into the textile factory, Zuo Menggeng couldn't help standing still.

In front of his eyes, the bustling production scene finally gave him a familiar feeling.

In the vast and spacious workshop, row after row of textile machines were lined up vertically like a long dragon.

The flying shuttle on the textile machine is spinning rapidly with the silk thread wrapped around it, and the connecting lines are like countless trickles, converging in a fixed direction.

Hundreds of female workers walked back and forth among these looms, checking the condition of the silk threads and looms from time to time.

The roar of the huge mechanical rotation is very uncomfortable to the ears, but it seems to be the most beautiful melody in the world.

Looking at those silk threads that kept flowing, Zuo Menggeng seemed to see that the footsteps of the Chinese army were constantly advancing, and it seemed that there would never be an end.