Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1411 The pie in the sky

The news gathered from Amsterdam was soon carried by the fast liaison ship assigned by Captain Zhou Yu and belonged to the Cape Verde Squadron, and arrived at the capital Dongfang Port a month later, and handed it over to the executive committee members. review.And when they finished reviewing and discussing, and issued the order to each factory, it was already around August 8th.

In the factory area of ​​Tieling Special Steel Works in Tieling County, workers are maintaining a large melting room.According to the latest production task issued by the central government, their factory will produce 400 12-pound guns, with a ratio of more than 20 times the diameter, and a caliber of almost 117 mm (the so-called "12-pound guns" installed by the East Bank have a caliber of 120 mm. mm) for export to the United Provinces.The Dutch also attached great importance to this. Their ambassador to the east coast, Konrad Van Boyningen, also took the train to Tieling Town in person, and proposed to take a look at the factory area where the artillery barrels were processed, because he knew whether the people on the east coast could He was worried about producing such a huge amount of artillery in a short period of time—of course his request was rejected as a matter of course because it involved confidentiality and it was inconvenient for outsiders to visit.

Tieling Special Steel Works has a reason to say this, because in the first workshop with the most technical force, there are five "Blacksmith-3" hydraulic presses quietly placed at this time.This kind of hydraulic press with a nominal pressure of 200 tons has been developed by the Second Heavy Machinery Factory for more than five years, and the first batch of trial models has finally been released recently. As the leading special steel smelting and machining enterprise in China, Tieling Factory has been assigned Five machines were tested to check the practicability and reliability of this machine, laying a solid foundation for the final finalization of mass production and equipment.Therefore, how can such important mechanical equipment be seen by outsiders like Van Beuningen?This is simply unimaginable!

However, for big money owners like the Netherlands, especially when they added a super large order-for people on the east coast, it feels like a pie in the sky. , money is falling from the sky - it's time to give them some sweets too.Therefore, as the largest single purchaser of the "Navy Gun Procurement Case", with the special approval of the Executive Committee, the people on the east coast summoned the contacts of the Tripp family and the De Haier family on the east coast. Under the witness of Ningen, a technology transfer agreement with a total amount of more than 200 million dong was signed, that is, the East China Republic will include coke ironmaking, new blast furnace, bar iron production, brick coke oven design (honeycomb type A package of technologies such as coke ovens, which are a whole generation behind those on the east coast) were transferred to companies under the names of these two families, and personnel were sent to Sweden to guide them in familiarizing and mastering these new technologies.

It can be seen that these technologies involve a series of links in coking and ironmaking. Historically, these technologies were only developed in Europe in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, but they were all transferred to the Netherlands by the people on the east coast.And the reason why they are willing to do this, in addition to the strong demand of the Dutch - this time they really tasted the pain of involuntary ordnance production during the war - there is also the reason that this kind of technology has already appeared in the Old World, that is, the British People have initially mastered these technologies, and there is no point in blocking them any longer. At most, it will be postponed for a few years.That being the case, it is better to sell these to the Dutch, exchange some money to spend, improve the relationship, and add trouble to the British by the way, there is always no harm.

It is said that the Kingdom of England, which accounts for more than half of Europe's steel production capacity, has made technological progress in recent years, especially with the stimulation of a "technical lighthouse" like the East Coast Republic of China, they have mastered some of them decades in advance. The key iron ore smelting and production technologies are logical, thanks to their deeper industrial base compared with other countries, as well as their traditions in the production and processing of coal, iron, lead and tin.

According to the information collected by the people on the east coast and the information shared by the United Provinces, the British have taken the lead in mastering the technology of using coke to make iron, and have also made some progress in the matching blasting, forging, and casting. for nervous.In fact, the British have been working hard for many years to explore the use of coke instead of charcoal for ironmaking. This is mainly because the forestry resources in the UK are not too rich, and their metal smelting and processing industries are also quite large. Marketing throughout Europe, the consumption of charcoal is huge.

Therefore, since a long time ago, the British have begun to try coke to make iron, but it is not widely accepted because of the high content of impurities in coke.However, in the year before last, a businessman in Shropshire successfully reduced iron with good quality by using coke. This immediately shocked many people. spread widely.However, due to the different content of impurities in the coal in different places (the coal in Shropshire has inherently low sulfur content, which is the key to their success), most people failed, and only a very small number of people succeeded, so this technology At this time in the UK, only some areas have adopted it, but this is undoubtedly a great progress, because the cost advantage of coke is obvious.

In addition, the British have also made some progress in the technical links related to coke ironmaking, such as the coke oven and blast furnace technology transferred to the United Provinces by the people on the east coast at the moment. These technologies can enable manufacturers to obtain better quality and higher output. High coke is also crucial for cost reduction.However, in the most critical technical link - the design of the melting chamber that matches the small mobile furnace (such as the graphite crucible of the East Coast people) - the East Coast people still reserved a hand to ensure that the technology of the Old World Lead and suppress.

In addition, the slag smelting technology in steel production is closely monitored as a high-level secret, so that even if the Europeans produce steel with a lower cost, the quality gap is still obvious compared with the goods from the east coast. Enough is enough, and the purpose of the people on the east coast has been achieved.After all, the people on the east coast hope that the technology and productivity of the countries on the Old Continent will make some progress, but they don't want them to progress too fast. Right now, this rhythm is just right.

Well, without further ado.After the Ministry of Machinery Industry signed a technology transfer agreement with the Dutch on behalf of the government of the East Coast Republic of China, it also logically received a large military purchase order for 1300 artillery pieces. The total contract amount exceeded 200 million dong (it is said that this was still given As for the preferential price, the expensive naval guns can be seen from this).

Among the 1300 cannons, 400 12-pound (117mm caliber) cannons have been confirmed to be produced and processed by Tieling Special Steel Works. They have their own steel melting room and the latest "Blacksmith-3" hydraulic presses, There is an artillery boring machine with fairly good machining accuracy, and it produces all kinds of high-quality manganese, iron, and manganese steel cutter heads. The processing and production conditions are very good, so it took an order for 400 12-pound artillery in one go. justified.

As the largest production scale in China, the strongest technical force and backed by the Pingan Iron and Steel Works, the Northern Arsenal has received orders for 600 8-pound, 12-pound, 18-pound, and 24-pound naval guns. They produce such products It is already familiar with it, and it has provided such equipment for the army and navy on the east coast all year round. The production speed is very fast, which should satisfy the Dutch.

In addition, Dayuhe Arsenal, another domestic military manufacturing enterprise on the east coast, has only received an order for 300 artillery pieces this time, since part of its processing lines have been moved to the vicinity of the Shipu Reservoir (to take advantage of the extremely abundant local water resources). 6-pound and 8-pound small-caliber artillery (used to attack enemy sailors on the deck), the total contract amount is not high, it can only be said to be so-so, but who makes their technical capabilities and production capabilities weaker than the other two So it's all right, that's all.

It is worth mentioning that, due to the urgency of the Anglo-Dutch war and the heavy losses of the Dutch in the Bergen naval battle, Van Beuningen was in a hurry this time. Four or five hundred cannons were taken out of the library (some of which were even sold to Spain, Russia and Prussia), and handed over to the South China Sea Shipping Company first, so that they could be shipped to Amsterdam with other goods.

While handing over these stockpiled artillery, the Dutch were also forced to purchase a considerable number of artillery shells.The reason why they did this is because the production capacity of the Netherlands itself is extremely limited, and it is normal to purchase shells from the east coast, but the more reason is that the artillery on the east coast is slightly different from the calibers they commonly use. As a result, they had to purchase standard shells mass-produced on the East Coast.

For example, the 12-pound gun should have a caliber of 117mm, but on the east coast, it is a caliber of 120mm.For another example, the 8-pound gun is 105 mm on the east coast, the 6-pound gun is 80 mm on the east coast, etc., which may not be the same as the calibers commonly used by the Dutch, so they had no choice but to purchase a full set of guns. The various types of shells and gunpowder on the big ship were shipped home for use first, and then they found a way to let the Dutch capital set up arms workshops in Sweden and North Germany to urgently process and produce shells of the standard caliber on the east coast.

These produced artillery will be transported to Tieling Railway Station by the flat rail cars in the factory area, and then loaded at Daxing Port and sailed to the United Provinces.Along with these artillery pieces, there were also some front-loading rifles and Mini bombs, which were used to reload the two mixed battalions of the army. Today, the population, productivity, and military strength of East China are gradually increasing. There is no need to hide this kind of weapon anymore. Equipped with these two mixed battalions, the East Coast people already have a full three mixed battalions using Mini guns. I believe that after getting familiar with new weapons and new After the tactics, its military strength can also reach a new level; in addition, there are a large number of tinplate in the end, which are shipped to the state-owned canned food factory in Ping'an County in the north. They are currently trying to use materials other than ceramics and glass. In the production of canned food, tinplate is the most important thing, because this is something that some senior officials of the Ministry of Agriculture have explained.

Speaking of tinplate, we have to mention the tinplate industry that is gradually developed in Tieling Special Steel Works, that is, Tieling Special Steel Works rolled some iron bars into extremely thin iron plates with rolling equipment (of course other The thickness is incomparable with the modern ones of a few tenths of a millimeter), after pickling to remove the rust on the surface, it is added to the kiln for tin plating.

The specific process is: there is a row of tanks filled with molten tin and grease in the kiln, and there is a fire under the tanks.Dip the thin iron plate first into the grease and then into the tin. This dipping process is a bit long because it is necessary to ensure that the tinning is complete; Immerse them in pure tin next to them for a short period of time, and then immediately immerse them in grease to prevent cracks on the surface of the tinplate caused by tin cooling faster than iron; after this step, immerse them in lower temperature In a tank of animal fat, the tin plate is finally dipped in a slot filled with molten tin to remove tin "nodules" formed on the edge of the tin plate.

This process was gradually explored by Tieling Special Steel Works after spending many years, a large sum of money, undergoing countless experiments, and drawing lessons from some achievements in the tinplate process of the countries of the old continent, and it was immediately obtained. The patent certification of the National Patent Office has exclusively produced this kind of tinplate, which is known as "tinplate" by many people across the country, and has begun to export it to canned food factories on a small scale for trial use to see how the effect is.

Once the tinplate canning production line is successfully developed in Ping'an County, and the tinplate cans are mass-produced by mechanical or semi-mechanical methods, then the production of tinplate canned food will be officially put on the agenda.And if this novelty is confirmed to be effective, then it is conceivable that in the future, a considerable part of the production of canned food in the East Coast Republic of China will use this kind of tinplate.After all, ceramic or glass cans are not only fragile, but also very heavy, which have long been criticized by the logistics staff of the army and navy.If the tinplate cans of the state-run canned food factory can be rolled out on a large scale, I believe that the market prospect is still very broad, and then Tieling Special Steel will have a new profit growth point.

On September 1665, 9, the first batch of 8 20-pound guns arrived at Daxing Port Wharf from Tieling County on a downwind train transporting fuel, and stored them in a special weapon depot.After the production of the other artillery pieces is completed, they will be shipped together to the town harbor wharf on the other side of Duck Lake, escorted by the Navy’s escort gunboat, and set off for Amsterdam in the United Provinces. People have always attached great importance to it, in order to try their best to satisfy the big donors like the Netherlands.

(End of this chapter)