The wind blows from the South Sea

Chapter 82 Tieshan Town

landa mountain

After more than three months, the originally deserted valley had changed drastically. A prosperous town with a population of more than 10,000 people quickly stood on the central valley plain.

Because it is surrounded by iron mines, it is called "Iron Mountain Town".

Since this time

Wu Siwen single-handedly led the continuous suppression of several indigenous tribes west of Yanwang City. The captured indigenous slave laborers were sent to the mines every other week, and the number of them was often hundreds or even thousands.

Most of these hard labor prisoners were restrained in iron mines and endured the heavy labor of digging mines for many years. Unless they performed well, it was difficult for them to be allowed to go to Iron Mountain Town.

Tieshan Town is home to migrating white captives, Chinese families who voluntarily went to work in Landa Mountain, and some of the family members of more than 3500 soldiers.

Many Chinese traders seeking business opportunities also came to the area after hearing the news. In addition to restaurants, wine shops, breakfast shops, barber shops, teahouses, and medical clinics, there were also brothels and gambling stalls. The largest business was the Tieshan Town branch of the Nanyang Daily Necessities Store.

This store alone occupies 6 horizontal facades, upstairs and downstairs, and sells various daily necessities, including silks, fabrics, refreshments, etc. It is a must-see when visiting Tieshan Town.

In the valley downstream of Tieshan Town

In the factory building, a steel crane with a height of more than seven meters has been erected.

It's just that there are a lot of supporting steel pipelines, gates, rolling equipment, etc., and it still takes a lot of effort to sort them out.

There are five steam engines installed around the steelmaking blast furnace, which are responsible for blasting, iron ore powder and batching conveyor belts, etc. It is considered the most sophisticated part.

The entire steelmaking blast furnace is mounted on a three-story iron frame, with the lower part riveted firmly and some ventilation pipes and feed pipes connected to it. Since most of them are finished products, the assembly speed is not slow.

The high-temperature molten iron produced from the blast furnace flows into the molten steel ladle through the discharge port at the lower end of the blast furnace. At this time, the high-temperature molten steel ladle weighs more than ten tons.

When Feng Guohui came here, it was basically already in shape.

In this era, the St. James Park stadium where Newcastle Football League is located in England can accommodate more than 1.6 spectators, and the construction cost is only 5.4 pounds.

It seems that he suffered a big loss.

But the accounts cannot be calculated that way. The blast furnace steelmaking equipment in front of us is the most advanced steelmaking equipment in the world today, with guaranteed steel output and quality. It represents the cutting-edge technology of heavy industry in the steam era.

Looking at it as a whole

Rows of neat and tall factory buildings are already in operation. The long railway track connects to the mineral processing plant 3.3 kilometers away, and the traffic is filled with iron ore trucks pulled by animal power.

In the entire east and south of the Eurasian Continental Bridge, Tieshan Iron and Steel Plant is the only blast furnace steelmaking plant in the modern sense. It symbolizes a solid first step towards industrialization, and its significance cannot be underestimated.

Feng Guohui saw the original British steel ladle here. It looked like a bulky gas tank. The upper end could be opened. There were several lugs in the upper, middle and lower sections of the ladle, which were used for lifting with chains and steel locks. transportation.

It was almost a family-style steel-making furnace. This thing cost him 5.2 pounds, almost 26 silver coins. It was really expensive.

When the workers were busy, Feng Guohui and others stood quietly aside without disturbing their work progress.

The specific production principle is very simple, and the equipment and process are not complicated.

It mainly carries its weight through iron chains and is suspended on a crane and transported to the adjacent molding workshop or rolling workshop for further deep processing of the steel.

When Feng Guohui arrived, British engineers were instructing workers to build a steel-making blast furnace. Its main body was a 2.2-meter-wide hemisphere with a diameter of meters. The upper and lower sections together formed the steel-making blast furnace.

I won’t go into details. Basically, it is a small iron spoon for one person and a large iron spoon for two people to work together. It is mainly cast by manpower, supplemented by large hammers and small hammers.

Everything else is all manpower.

The monthly output was stable at more than 2,000 tons, which was equivalent to half of the Austrian Empire's steel production. At that time, more than 70% of the Austrian Empire's steel production was still small workshops, not more advanced blast furnace steelmaking.

The rolling workshop uses casting troughs of various shapes. Its function is to wait for the high-temperature molten iron to be slightly set, and then roll the steel into various shapes while it is hot, like squeezing noodles.

The rolling workshop is also the workshop that uses the most steam engines. Currently, 22 steam engines have been installed, which can produce multiple steel specifications.

From steel plates, rails, I-beams to steel wire, most of them can be produced.

However, steel pipes are not included, because steel pipes, whether they are square pipes or round pipes, require a higher technical level and more complex production processes, which are currently unavailable.

After waiting for a while

George, the British engineer who had finished his work, came over and complained as if complaining;

"Feng, what you handed over to me is a group of new people who know nothing. They are like Neanderthals who just walked out of the primitive forest. I even have to teach them the most basic principles of mechanics.

This caused great trouble for our equipment installation work. To be honest, I don't expect them to be able to operate such sophisticated and complex machinery. "

Feng Guohui took a look at the group of green-looking young Chinese people behind Engineer George. They were all young talents selected from various Chinese families who could speak English proficiently.

There are many such talents among Chinese families living in Southeast Asia, and they are also the most high-end intellectuals in his hands today. The equipment installation work of the entire steel plant was completed by a team of workers composed of blacksmiths and carpenters after interpretation by these young intellectuals, which served as a bridge.

In response to Engineer George's doubts, Feng Guohui extended a hand without hesitation and said;

"Fifty pounds a day, Mr. George, I'll give your team of seven engineers £50 a day.

This money is at your disposal, every day until the entire installation project is completed.

This money is used by Mr. George to teach students the necessary knowledge, answer questions, and have the ability to operate the entire factory. This is the price I pay for respecting knowledge.

Of course, if my students complain that they didn't learn anything, then I will retract my promise. "

"Oh, God, you are such a generous employer. I can guarantee that your money is well spent." When he heard 50 pounds a day, the nauseating arrogance in Engineer George suddenly disappeared. The smile also became flattering.

The entire British engineer team responsible for the installation and trial production of the steel plant has a total of seven people, headed by Engineer George, who are all from the bottom of England's economic situation.

The salary offered to them by the British equipment supplier is only 120 pounds a year, plus a small car and ship subsidy, and that's it.

This kind of income is three times that of ordinary British workers, but considering that they risk their lives and travel across the ocean, the benefits are completely out of proportion to the effort.

Who would be willing to abandon his wife and go work overseas unless he was so embarrassed that he had no other choice?

Feng Guohui raised his hand and called over a young man. His name was Lin Xiaoyi. He was an outstanding young student born in a branch of the Lin family. He was proficient in English and Dutch and was now the leader of this group of young people.

"Xiaoyi, I made an agreement with the ghost guys. I will pay them 200 silver coins a day to teach you. If you have any questions you don't understand, just ask. If they hide it and refuse to teach, just tell me and I will deduct the money. The dunk will make the ghost mad."

"Master, it would be great if this could be done. We all have a lot of questions now, but the ghost guy doesn't want to talk about them. If he asks too many questions, he will curse people and say some unpleasant things."

"Hmph...they didn't dare this time." Feng Guohui turned to English and said in front of Engineer George;

"I paid him to teach you, and if anyone doesn't want to be taught, point it out, and I won't get a pound from him.

If you have any questions, you can ask them. Mr. George here must explain everything clearly and thoroughly until the students really understand it.

My money doesn't come by strong winds. If you want to get it, you have to rely on your true ability. "

Under the stimulation of money, George's attitude became extremely submissive at this time, and he patted his chest and promised;

"Dear Mr. Feng, please rest assured, everything is taken care of by me.

Starting tonight, I will arrange for people to take turns to tutor the students with relevant knowledge, teach them step by step how to operate, and answer all questions.

These trainees are very motivated and I believe that over time they will be able to operate factory machinery and equipment without any problems. "

"That's good! Mr. George got the pounds, and my people learned knowledge. This is a happy ending for everyone." Feng Guohui nodded.

It is useless to say anything else to the British. Only the shining pound is the most attractive.

After arranging this matter, Feng Guohui asked others to get busy while he took the people around.

From the perspective of rationalizing production operations, some opinions were put forward.

The discharging of the ladle is mainly operated by the steel crane, which connects the casting workshop and the rolling workshop through long rails. There is not much room for improvement.

The weight of steel products is very large, and they are also transported by steel trucks.

Not far from the blast furnace is the iron ore stockyard, where all the concentrates processed into iron ore powder are waiting to be transported by belts into the steelmaking blast furnace to be refined into steel.

Iron ore materials are transported from the material selection plant through railcars, as well as coking coal produced from coal kilns. These are important raw materials for steelmaking.

In the early stage of production, a large amount of reserves have been started.

After the mining equipment imported from the UK was used, the iron ore processing capacity was rapidly increased, and three to four hundred tons of iron ore powder could be produced every day.

After the initial run-in, the subsequent output can be further increased.

Increasing the production capacity of the mineral processing plant is relatively simple, just adding mineral processing equipment. The small soil steel-making furnace in the mine can also produce, and the cast steel parts are quite good.

Seeing all this, Feng Guohui was full of confidence.

Nanyang Company is developing according to its established blueprint and has taken the first step in industrialization. The following is a solid step by step.

Only in this way can the future be bright and hopeful.

(End of this chapter)