Chapter 61 Great strides forward
The executive committee had already reached a consensus on the advantages and disadvantages of Sanya before the crossing. The lack of coal underground is probably one of the biggest shortcomings of this place. The crossing will have to use charcoal as the main source for a long period of time in the early stage. of industrial fuels. The Executive Committee initially thought that this shortcoming would not have a particularly big impact other than the inability to make large-scale steelmaking, but obviously everyone made a big mistake in this matter.
Most of the cement brought during the crossing has been used in the hydropower station project. If the cement kiln cannot be put into operation in the short term, the subsequent factories, residences, and even the bunker forts that the military and police departments have been eagerly awaiting will all be affected by this. Become a castle in the air. The executive committee simply did not dare to continue thinking about the series of delays in project plans that would result.
"No matter what, the cement problem must be solved as soon as possible!" Tao Donglai set the tone at the beginning of the on-site meeting: "Everyone knows the importance of cement, so I won't emphasize it again. People who know technology said Say, if we cannot provide a large amount of anthracite or coke in the short term, what compromise method can we have to put the cement kiln into operation as soon as possible? ”
"There is no other way, boss, let's build soil and cement!"
After everyone was silent for a while, Liu Shanxia, the second-in-command of the Ministry of Construction, finally spoke. Although he is not from the Ministry of Industry, he has worked on projects for many years. He has encountered various problems during construction, and he still has some understanding of the production technical issues of certain materials.
The so-called soil cement is a simple and primitive version of cement. The burning of this cement does not require complicated equipment and technological processes. It only needs to crush the limestone and clay, put them directly into the kiln for calcination, and then grind the clinker. Just fine it into powder. Moreover, the calcining temperature of this kind of soil cement does not need to reach 1450 degrees like Portland cement, but only 600 to 800 degrees. Considering the enhanced performance, the slag ash from ironmaking can also be ground and evenly mixed into the clinker. The quality of the cement produced by this local method is naturally not as good as that of regular Portland cement, but when the objective conditions are insufficient, it can actually meet the needs of general construction.
It is precisely because of the simplicity of this earth cement production method that until the 1960s, there were still a large number of small cement plants in China using this technology. Tao Donglai has been engaged in the real estate industry for these years. Although he has never used soil and cement, he has at least heard of it and knew that it existed. He immediately made a decision: "Then quickly trial-produce it and make some samples first to see the effect." How about, if the intensity reaches the standard, it will be put into operation as soon as possible. It is already May and the typhoon period has begun. We don’t even have a brick house now, so we must hurry up!”
The trial-produced soil cement was quickly sent to the construction site for testing. The effect was surprisingly good. After drying, it fully met the performance requirements of building material adhesives, but there was still a significant gap in strength compared to Portland cement. But as far as the current application scope of Chuanzhong is concerned, the performance of this soil cement has basically reached the standard. At least it can firmly bond stones together, and can even be used to make concrete with low strength requirements.
"There is still too little coal!" The members of the executive committee who received the good news did not immediately get rid of their troubles.
Now with the spread of industrial projects, more and more places require industrial fuel, and charcoal production has begun to experience bottlenecks. Although the three existing charcoal kilns have been operating around the clock and the two new charcoal kilns will be put into operation soon, the growth rate of output still cannot match the growth rate of consumption. Especially the newly put into operation iron-making furnace, it is simply a bottomless pit.
Because Sanya lacks local coal resources, the ore currently mined from Tiandu Iron Mine can only be made by charcoal. Refining one ton of pig iron requires two tons of iron ore and about seven tons of charcoal, which is quite astonishing given the current charcoal production. Therefore, the Executive Committee intends to expand the charcoal production capacity again, but this will inevitably require more manpower to be allocated to the logging team to cut trees, which will put greater pressure on the already very tight human resources.
At this time, the Ministry of Agriculture is probably the only one that is not troubled by charcoal production. After spring plowing and planting were completed, the Ministry of Agriculture did not stop its development, but continued to cultivate agricultural land in the valley area along the east bank of the Tiandu River. In view of the fact that the upstream area will become an area heavily polluted by metallurgical and chemical industries in the future, the Ministry of Agriculture has taken precautions and has no plans to plant large-scale food crops in this area. Instead, it will mainly use the newly opened cultivated land to grow economic crops, especially It is an oil crop.
Mr. Yuan, who specializes in cash crops, had already planned a planting plan for the Ministry of Agriculture when he was preparing agricultural supplies before traveling. Hainan's tropical climate is very suitable for growing various cash crops, and in Mr. Yuan's plan, there are four types of cash crops as the main lineup - spices, rubber, oils, and sugars.
The spice trade in East Asia in the 17th century was also very famous in later generations. The Dutch East India Company made its fortune by monopolizing the trade of several spices such as nutmeg, cloves and pepper in Southeast Asia. In the European market, these spices from the East are as popular as Chinese silk and porcelain. The gross profit from trafficking spices between Asia and Europe is even close to twenty times. For this reason, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and Britain, the maritime powers at that time, launched a long-term struggle in East Asia. This is evident from the important position that spices occupied in the trade between countries. Under this historical background, the Executive Committee will naturally not let go of the spice trade, a business that is extremely profitable and has no worries about sales. In addition to these popular spices, the Ministry of Agriculture also grows turmeric, the main ingredient of curry, galangal, the main ingredient of five-spice powder, coriander, which is essential for tom yam soup, as well as Thai pepper, basil, and mao on a small scale. and other famous spices produced in Southeast Asia. If the spice trade goes smoothly in the future, the Executive Committee even intends to promote the planting of these high value-added spice crops on a large scale in mountainous areas controlled by the Li people, gradually making the Li people heavily dependent on the Li people for food supply, and achieving a disguised form. The purpose of controlling the Li people.
As for the importance of rubber to modern industry, it is self-evident. If nothing else, just the two applications of rubber tires and seals are enough to raise the level of industrialization in Chuangchuang. The Ministry of Agriculture planted a total of ten acres of rubber tree saplings in the clearings cleared by logging teams. These trees will need to wait five or six years before rubber can be tapped. However, the Executive Committee is not in a hurry about this. After the foreign trade routes are opened, rubber may be imported on a small scale from other parts of Southeast Asia within a year or two. The planting of rubber trees now is more for the long term. consider.
When it comes to choosing oil crops, Mr. Yuan finally decided on oil palm. The oil content of the fruits of this oil crop exceeds 50%. One oil palm can produce 30 to 40 kilograms of palm oil every year, and the yield per mu can reach about 600 kilograms, which is two to three times that of coconuts and seven to eight times that of peanuts. Among oil crops, The price-performance ratio is extremely high among crops. Palm oil can not only be used for food, but can also be used to make soap, industrial lubricants, etc.
Most importantly, the Ministry of Chemical Industry has long proposed a plan to produce biodiesel, and palm oil is an ideal material. Even if only a limited amount of diesel can be produced on a small scale by then, in the opinion of the executive committee, the time and energy spent on this project will be well worth it. Of course, before that, the public must wait patiently for three years to allow these oil palms to grow slowly.
When it comes to the choice of sugar crops, sugarcane has certainly become the first choice without giving up land. In the late Ming Dynasty, the main producing area of sucrose was in Leizhou, Guangxi. In later generations, Zhanjiang was still the largest sugar production base in China. The executive committee hopes to develop a sugarcane planting base in the southern part of Hainan Island that can rival Leizhou, and use the advanced technology at its disposal to beat mainland sugar merchants in terms of production costs.
The reason why the Executive Committee agreed with the Ministry of Agriculture to choose sugarcane as one of the main cash crops to promote planting is not only because of the prospects of sugarcane in foreign trade, but also because sugarcane is very suitable for wine making. The famous rum of later generations was brewed from sugar cane. This sugar cane shochu invented by Native Americans was well received after being introduced to Europe in the 18th century. However, now that we have traveled through time and space, the invention of this kind of wine is very difficult. Obviously it has to change ownership in advance.
As a commodity, wine has always been easy to sell. The current situation of Chuanzhong is that it lacks a large and stable supply of food. Food wine will not be produced as a commodity in the short term, but the production of rum obviously does not have this concern. As one of the six major distilled spirits of later generations, the Executive Committee believes that this kind of soju made from sugar cane will definitely open up the European market in the process of foreign trade, and it is a commodity worthy of great attention. Planting sugar cane can produce two products at the same time that can open up the Eastern and Western markets. It is no wonder that the Executive Committee approved Mr. Yuan's plan without hesitation.
Although the Ministry of Agriculture's cash crop plan is good, it will take time to slowly realize it. The earliest sugar cane can be put into production will take about a year from now. But people from the Ministry of Agriculture don’t intend to just sit idle. There are agricultural projects that will produce faster results right now.
The Ministry of Agriculture began stocking grass carp fry in the rice fields more than ten days after transplanting the rice. According to the Ministry of Agriculture's plan, more than 500 fish fry should be released per mu of rice fields. However, due to the rush of time, the fry breeding could not keep up. The final stocking density was only about 200 fish per mu, with a small amount of carp and crucian carp. fry.
This rice field fish farming technology was a relatively common practice in later generations. It can not only increase rice production, but also take into account fish farming. However, when the local Ming people in the farm commune saw it, they were all dumbfounded - what are these Haihan people doing? Some people like to eat fish. They don’t have enough fish in the sea, so they even have to raise fish in the rice fields!
(End of chapter)