Chapter 568: Number One in the World (Second update, please subscribe)
On the wide highway, a Ford car was speeding steadily.
Out of the car window, the scenery along the way unfolds like a picture scroll, with the continuous plantations on both sides extending to the distant sky.
There are not many vehicles on the highway, only the occasional truck or bus passing by in a hurry, breaking the tranquility. The car's tires rolled on the road, making a low and powerful sound.
"Haha, have you read the news in the newspaper? Rich businessmen from all walks of life are competing to buy rubber plantations. In less than half a month, the prices of rubber plantations around the city have soared more than ten times!"< br>
Nishikawa, who was sitting in the passenger seat, said while reading the newspaper.
“Oh, it is indeed Nanyang! There are so many rich people, and a rubber plantation that I didn’t even blink at when buying rubber was originally worth only more than 1 million. In the end, they were forced to raise it to several Millions!"
Fukuyama said while driving the car,< br>
"That's for sure. After all, all the rich people in Tangshan have fled here, at least tens of thousands of them. As long as they are willing to buy, they will buy everything at sky-high prices."
That’s what happens when there are too many rich people. In Fukuyama’s view, this is almost a matter of course. Then he sighed again.
"Hey, no wonder Nanyang is developing so fast. The money brought by these rich people is an astronomical amount! Nanyang restricts luxury houses just to let them use the funds for investment instead of personal enjoyment and speculation."< br>
“Oh, you can’t say that. Those rich people came later, and the construction of Nanyang came first. Just like this highway, it started to be built during the war. At that time, there were no people who came from Tangshan. Money man."
Nishikawa continued, looking at the highway in front of him.
“The 4,000-kilometer ring-island highway, the longest highway in the world, even in Germany, its birthplace, does not have so many highways! You see how comfortable it is to drive on such a road!”
Ring Island Expressway!
Nanyang took almost four years to complete. The current mileage is 4,000 kilometers. The opening of the ring-island expressway has given Nanyang's economy a "sweet taste". The highway connects the five major cities into a whole, greatly accelerating Nanyang's economy. development.
Stretch yourself, Nishikawa said.
"No wonder they want to build a "national car". If you don't drive, such a beautiful road will be wasted! Maybe in a few years, the highway will be full of cars."
Listening to Nishikawa's emotion, Fukuyama said.
“The blood and sweat of many Japanese prisoners flowed on this road, and so did the plantations on both sides!”
Xi Chuan was stunned by his casual words, and he spoke after a moment.
"If you say this, don't say it in the future, it will bring trouble to the club. We always have to be careful about what we say and do here."
For a while, there was silence in the car.
Fukuyama, who was no longer speechless, stared ahead intently, holding the steering wheel tightly with both hands.
After the Spring Festival, he finally got the representative's permission to drive the Ford car from the office, starting from Chang'an and driving along the Ring Island Expressway to the East China Sea. This time his destination is Donghai Steel Company, Asia's largest steel company.
When they left the highway and entered Donghai City, it was already dark. Seeing the white brimmed hat of a traffic policeman, Fukuyama drove the car next to him.
"Excuse me, how to get to Donghai Steel?" he asked the police.
The policeman looked at the passengers in the car and pointed in another direction.
"You can see it just south along the coast road."
As the Ford drove along the coast road towards Donghai Steel Company, a Liberty Ship from Chang'an drove in Entering the East Bay, its hull is getting closer and closer to Matou. On the upper deck, several sailors on the ship leaned on the railing and looked into the distance. The blast furnaces like hills on the coast were getting closer and closer. The smoke emitted from the blast furnaces submerged the green coast in the smoke, like a fairyland.
20 minutes later, the free ship docked at the dock, and the dock immediately became busy. Cranes loaded heavy steel onto the ship. Soon these steels will be sent to various parts of Southeast Asia for industrial production or infrastructure.
On the other side of the pier, several ore ships from Australia were loading and unloading ore, and the ore piled up into hills.
The red of the iron embroidery is in sharp contrast with the green of the mountains behind. This is Donghai Steel, the only steel company in Nanyang and the largest steel conglomerate in Asia.
Following the direction the police said, the two of them soon saw the smoke-filled factory. The huge factory was sandwiched in the open space between the sea and the mountains, shrouded in smoke. among.
“Look, this is Donghai Steel—they blew up two mountains and built this factory.”
Fukuyama said, looking at the factory.
"Now the largest steel factory in Asia, where..."
Pointing in another direction, Fukuyama said, "Over there is Conch Cement, the largest cement company in Asia. They use The vacant land behind the stone will be used for the construction of the steel company. Well, it is also a subsidiary of the steel company."
Nishikawa sighed.
"It's so spectacular!"
Looking at the steel company shrouded in smoke at dusk, Nishikawa asked.
"How about it, when will we go there?"
"We can't find anyone now. Let's go there tomorrow! Find a place to sleep for the night first."
……
Early the next morning, Fukuyama and Nishikawa arrived at the steel company together. As employees of Mitsui Corporation, they expressed their intention to come to the company as soon as they arrived - to discuss business.
After the demolition of three sets of large blast furnaces and steelmaking equipment after the war, Japan's steel production was far from meeting the needs of reconstruction, and it could only import a large amount of steel. Japan is also one of Tokai Steel's major overseas markets.
After negotiating this year’s business, Fushan asked the sales staff to visit the factory. The sales staff did not refuse. This was also a normal request. Soon the group entered in a jeep. We walked into the factory, which was filled with the smell of metal.
“This is the No. 1 blast furnace, and over there is the No. 2 blast furnace. They are the foundation furnaces of Donghai Steel. They were bought by you from Italy back then, Mr. Fukuyama, and over there are the No. 3 and No. 4 blast furnaces... ”
When mentioning the two blast furnaces, Xu Jiang took a special look at Fushan. As we all know, they were dismantled from Japan. He originally wanted to admire his expression, but was a little disappointed to find that Fukuyama looked completely unmoved.
"Well, I know..."
Looking at the two blast furnaces from a distance, Fukuyama asked deliberately.
“It seems to look different from the past.”
“It is different. When it was shipped back from Japan and installed, its volume was only 944 cubic meters. For the sake of long-term In order to meet the needs of development, the company was determined to carry out technical transformation. Using the blast furnace foundation and framework at that time, it was determined that the blast furnace capacity would be expanded to 1300m3. The blast furnace body was basically redesigned and a series of equipment such as hot blast furnaces were improved. At the same time, the batching structure was optimized and new smelting processes were adopted. , further improving the blast furnace utilization coefficient, and its average daily output exceeds 3,400 tons. ”
3400 tons!
Average daily output! That is more than 12 million tons per year!
After calculating this number, Fukuyama couldn't help but take a breath!
Although he was not a metallurgical expert, he still found a clue in this number, so he asked.
“Have these blast furnaces of your company undergone such technical transformation?”
“Yes.”
Xu Jiang nodded.
“In other words, the annual output of these four blast furnaces is more than 5 million tons!”
“Last year’s output was 4.73 million tons, and the company’s engineers are still working on new ones. Research to further increase production."
Xu Jiang's answer made both Fushan and Nishikawa speechless in shock, and they fell silent instantly.
Looking at the factory in front of me in disbelief, I don’t even know how to describe my mood. Just in terms of blast furnace utilization, this factory is undoubtedly the most efficient in the world.
And what does this mean?
The cost is the lowest!
The surprise on the faces of the two Japanese made Xu Jiang finally feel more comfortable. What he wanted was this effect. In fact, the steel expert from Bethlehem in the United States years ago generally had the same expression, but his face was even more ugly-black, as if he had suffered from food deficiency.
After all, people in this era really cannot believe that an Asian factory surpasses the level of Europe and the United States.
And now what about these two Japanese people?
Their expressions are even more interesting. They look surprised, stunned, surprised, and a little bit heartbroken. Can it not hurt? Half of the equipment here is imported from Japan.
Despite being heartbroken, Fukuyama still noticed a clue and asked.
"Steel, your company's crude steel output is very high, so the steelmaking equipment should also be renovated!"
(End of this chapter)