Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 508 Yulingang Development Plan

"With such a large expansion of the iron and steel industry, are there so many material reserves?" Wen Desi asked.This blast furnace is not a full-scale soil blast furnace, but a real industrial blast furnace, although in terms of scale, it belongs to a small blast furnace with limited and demolished backward production capacity in another time and space.But this thing was definitely high tech in the 17th century.

Not counting refractory materials - this problem has been solved from the bittern in the saltworks, and several tons of steel are used to make the cooling water jacket for the hearth alone - and it is a casting.Wen Desi knows that cast steel is the most difficult in casting, and the fluidity of steel is not high. The difficulty of large steel castings such as cooling water jackets can be imagined.

"The technical conditions for building these new equipment are fully mature, and the material conditions are also available. There is no problem in expanding to this scale." Ma Qianju replied, "However, a lot of pig iron and steel stocks will be consumed to manufacture equipment, and pig iron and steel quotas for other aspects Further reductions must be made..."

"What about the mining equipment, as well as the supporting facilities: boilers, steam engines...these things are piled up with tons of steel." Zhan Wuya questioned, "There is also the rail manufacturing arranged by the planning committee for Tiandu. There is a gap of 40.00%. Even if there is no shortage of materials, it is necessary to increase production equipment to deliver on time."

"This aspect is of course a guarantee." Ma Qianju opened his notebook, "Everyone, since August, the Planning Commission has reduced the amount of steel used in all aspects in order to break through the fatal bottleneck of steel-coal. The difficulty is For the time being, as long as this threshold is endured, steel will no longer be a first-level control material—you know the expected output. But the current inventory is still tight.” He then reported the current inventory of steel, Stock of pig iron and wrought iron.

"It's really not much." Zhan Wuya said. "All munitions production must now be stopped. Casting cannon and shells consumes a great deal of pig iron."

The arming work of the crossing group has been carried out at a slow but uninterrupted pace.The Planning Committee allocates certain production quotas to the production of weapons, ammunition, and rations every month.As for the professional arsenal required by the army and navy, there is no such thing—at present, it is all turnkey machinery factories.

The cessation of all arms production is a very sensitive issue, because it is a five-year plan implementation work meeting, and there is only one representative of the military, Ma Qianzhu, so naturally no one jumped up to raise objections.However, once this measure is announced, one can imagine what kind of reaction the military will have.Especially for the young officers led by Zhang Bolin and Wei Aiwen, the cannon is their heart and soul.

The stakes are high.Everyone's eyes turned to Ma Qianju: his other title was the chief of the army's general staff.

"It's fine, it's fine, but it's a bit confusing." Ma Qianju took out another Holy Ship Notebook from his briefcase with a combination lock, with the words "armament" written on it.

"The current Mini rifles have 4 bases each, the artillery teaching team has 1 base shell, and the coastal heavy artillery has half a base. The naval gun on the 8154 has 1.5 bases, the triangular schooner patrol boat has 1 base, and other sail warships The artillery ammunition reserves of our company are insufficient. After the collection of the remnants of Zhucai’s old troops, our sailing fleet has expanded rapidly. The old miscellaneous artillery and shells on it have all been dismantled and returned to the furnace, but there is no time for new artillery. The shortage is too large, let alone the shells. I said it." Ma Qianzhu said without hesitation.

"One battle is enough."

"As long as it is not the joint attack of the Ming army and the main force of the Zheng family, it is not necessarily possible to completely destroy the opponent, but it will definitely be possible to repel it." Ma Qianzhu has participated in several war games hosted by Xi Yazhou in the General Staff Headquarters.

Wen Desi asked: "Is there any danger of war now?"

"According to the intelligence agency's analysis report, there is none for the time being."

"Stop the production of artillery and ammunition first. Make every effort to produce equipment for Tiandu's development plan."

"Can you ask Guangzhou to expand the import of pig iron?"

"It's not easy. The problem now is not only that the price of importing pig iron from Guangdong is getting more and more expensive. It's that our import volume is too large and there are too few stocks on the market—and we have also encountered competitors."

"Who would buy so much pig iron but us?"

"The government of the Ming Dynasty." Ma Qianju said, "The report from the Guangzhou station said that Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, was casting cannons on a large scale and buying a large amount of pig iron. The price of iron in the market has risen sharply."

"Could it be that the government uses cash to buy iron? Don't they always engage in things like 'buying' to seize real goods with empty money?"

"There's nothing wrong with that. But since the owner of the smelting plant has suffered a loss, he has to make up for it. Besides, Daming is now also undertaking the business, so it's not all due to robbery."

"According to the historical records, Wang Zunde casts a lot of cannons, casting [-] pieces at a time." Renhui from the intelligence department reported, "and the scale will probably be even bigger next year. There is a wealthy businessman named Li Luoyou. Knowing which way to go, he has already contracted the cannon casting business in the whole province of Guangdong."

"What is this person's background?"

"The investigation hasn't started yet."

"Immediately send a power call to Guangzhou to check his situation!" Wen Desi suddenly remembered, "Have you figured out the background of that woman Li Huamei?"

"Not yet. She sailed for Goa in October. Carried a good load."

"What is she going to bring back for us?"

"Mainly opium and jute." Ma Qianju said, "There are also sporadic goods."

"How's the sailor training going?"

"Very good, Mr. Wen, the sailors on the triangular schooner patrol boat you designed were all trained by her."

Xiao Zishan coughed and reminded Mr. Wen not to go wrong, and then said: "In this way, the price of pig iron will rise even more next year."

Although after the development of Tiandu is completed, as soon as the blast furnace is tapped, Lingao's pig iron can be completely self-sufficient-even a large number of steel products can be exported, but this will at least be the end of next year.

"I have no choice but to grit my teeth and endure it and continue to rely on imports." Wang Luobin said, "If the price is high, the price is high, at least we can afford it."

"This money is only for the smelter to make money temporarily." Wen Desi said, "When our steel output comes up, not to mention selling iron products back to Guangdong, just stopping imports will cause the price of iron to plummet."

"We can take the opportunity to develop a commodity exchange system, and control Guangdong's iron and steel industry through bulk commodity trading..."

"Stop, let's talk about the economic issue later, otherwise it will be developed to the limitless." Xiao Zishan, the host of the meeting, stopped Yifan's high-level talk, "Let's talk about the issue of coal and iron first."

"After obtaining a stable coal supply on the island, our next step is the Tiandu Iron Mine." Wen Desi said, "Now let's talk about the plan to develop Tiandu."

Ma Qianju stood up, came to the large exhibition board, and opened the curtain above it.

Behind the curtain is a large-scale map of the vicinity of Sanya.It has been marked with small flags of various colors.

"The Planning Commission has completed the Tiandu development plan under the order of the Executive Committee." Ma Qianju said, "Please review it."

The development of Tiandu is not simply a matter of building a mining area locally and expanding the Yulinbao Wharf.Through the Group is going to build Yulin as a new base.In the future, the navy will travel to Southeast Asia to trade and colonize the base.Therefore, the whole plan is very ambitious. The first and second phases of the project will be completed within the first five-year plan, and then the third and fourth phases of the project will be carried out-this will be left to the second five-year plan.

"The first phase of the project is to develop the Tiandu mining area." Ma Qianju pointed at the map, "and the construction of basic supporting facilities."

The first is to build a new fort on the main peak of the Luhuitou Peninsula.At the same time, build piers, trestles and forts on the peninsula.This place will serve as the berthing base for the naval fleet going south to the Southeast Asian waters in the future.

The original Yulinbao wharf will be expanded into a dedicated material export wharf, all using mechanized loading and unloading equipment. In the future, iron ore from Tiandu, manganese ore and phosphate rock from Damao, dried coconut and wood from Yazhou will all be transported through this wharf.

Anyoule City, opposite the Yulin Fortress, will be fully rebuilt in accordance with the planning of a modern city, equipped with complete infrastructure.At the same time a large number of immigrants to enrich.Enterprises for processing local resources will be established on the spot, and a timber processing factory, a copra processing factory and a food factory will be established first.Anyoule City will become a commercial port for trade with Southeast Asia.Not only to attract merchant ships traveling to and from Southeast Asia to berth here for trade, Wen Desi also plans to move the headquarters of the newly established Southeast Asian company here.

Tiandu Town will appear on the original site 300 years in advance, and the Tiandu Mining Bureau of the crossing country will be established here.The Tiandu Mining Bureau not only manages the mining of the Tiandu Iron Mine, but will also be responsible for the development of manganese and phosphate rocks in the Damao area in the future.

A railway will also be built between Tiandu Town and Yulinbao Wharf to transport ore.

"In this way, we have made a lot of money in the Yulin area." Wen Desi commented.

"The cost is high and the income is high. The development of the Yulingang area is not just a Tiandu iron mine, it is actually a new support point for us in the southern part of Hainan Island. It forms a north-south echo with Lingao." Ma Qianju Say.

This new base is basically a blank slate. There are very few local aborigines, and the influence of the Ming government is far away in Yazhou, which is dozens of kilometers away.The Traveling Group can plan, develop and construct this area at will, and does not need to spend a lot of effort on conquering and negotiating. Unlike the "coexistence" system such as Lingao, the Yulingang area will become the first real crossing group. ruled area.

"Yulin Fort will be upgraded to Sanya Special Economic Zone." Wen Desi said.

The executive committee immediately approved the Tiandu development plan.The whole program will start in the spring of 1630.The operation was no less complex than a D-Day reenactment.Various ministries and commissions have begun planning for the deployment of supplies and personnel.

(End of this chapter)