Chapter 103 Plan ahead
Using charcoal as the main fuel to smelt iron is a metal smelting plan that has been decided by the Executive Committee for a long time. However, it seems that there are still some problems in practical application - ensuring a certain scale of pig iron production. The problem is not big, but if you want to expand the scale of production, it is not easy to achieve.
The biggest problem with charcoal is that the production time is too long to pass through the charcoal kilns currently used. Each kiln takes at least five days from the time the carbon is fed to the time it comes out. The charcoal that took five days to burn was barely enough to make one furnace of pig iron in the metallurgical workshop. This caused the consumption of charcoal to be much faster than the production. The only solution was to increase the production capacity of charcoal.
But this is not something that can be solved by building more charcoal kilns. For every new charcoal kiln, the corresponding logging team must increase at least twenty to thirty people. Because fuel has become a strategic reserve material, the logging team has basically stopped using chain saws and can only rely on axes and saws. The labor efficiency can be imagined. Moreover, the charcoal produced is not only supplied to metallurgical workshops. Currently, almost all places where open flames are used within the jurisdiction of Chuanchuan Group use charcoal as fuel. More than half of the output of the six operating charcoal kilns is supplied to the metallurgical workshop, and the rest is divided among other units. According to the current development trend, there will only be more and more projects that require fuel. For example, the steam engine that will be put into actual use soon will also be a bottomless pit that consumes fuel.
According to calculations by Bai Kesi and Liu Xingli, if the metallurgical workshop wants to add another iron-making furnace, at least four to five charcoal kilns must be built to ensure smooth production. Taking into account the investment in steam engines in the future, the number of new charcoal kilns may have to reach more than ten. Such a scale will make the logging team immediately become the unit with the largest number of personnel under the Executive Committee, and will even exceed the combined number of people in the two current communes. At that time, I am afraid that a special logging commune will have to be established to manage this unit. OK. But even if another iron-making furnace is added, the output of pig iron will still not be able to meet the various development plans drawn up by the Executive Committee, and fuel has become the biggest bottleneck in expanding pig iron production capacity.
Bai Kesi's explanation made the executive committee members immediately realize the seriousness of the problem. Ning Qi hurriedly asked: "How much impact will the stagnation of pig iron production have on our development plan?"
Bai Kesi glanced at his notebook and said: "If pig iron production does not increase significantly within the year, then various plans we have made before will lag behind, such as the large-scale use of steam engines in industrial production and the manufacture of large-caliber coastal defenses. The output of guns, iron products, etc. will be affected to varying degrees.”
"That means we must get enough coal as soon as possible..." Tao Donglai already understood what Bai Kesi meant and nodded slowly.
"Even to make steel, we have to get coal!" Bai Kesi said categorically: "I won't talk about the far side, I will only talk about the most direct impact. Without steel, the steam engine we built has many parts. The strength cannot meet the requirements, which will seriously affect the efficiency and life of the steam engine. ”
"I remember reading some information before. When domestic iron and steel was smelted in large quantities, the private blast furnaces seemed to use charcoal as fuel, right?" Gu Kai asked blankly.
"Not to mention charcoal, there are even those that directly use wood. But that kind of indigenous steelmaking method can't produce any qualified products at all. Farmers melted all their own iron pots and kitchen knives, and in the end they only got a pile of scrap iron. That’s all. The production of steel and iron in 1958 exceeded 10 million tons, but the only products that are actually qualified are the products of state-owned steel plants. The millions of tons of domestic steel and iron produced by private companies are almost all waste products. It’s about industrial production, not social movements.” After Bai Kesi finished speaking, he stared at Gu Kai, which immediately made the liberal arts student shut up in shame.
"There is no coal in the southern part of Hainan. There are coal mines in Danzhou and Qiongzhou in the north, but the coal they produce is lignite, which is not very suitable for use as fuel for smelting steel. In fact, the coal we bought from Yazhou before , most of which are lignite shipped from northern Hainan,” Tao Donglai added: “If we want to buy better coal and coke, we probably can only find a way from Guangzhou.”
"Buying from Guangzhou, the cost of going back and forth is not as good as going to mine and dig coal yourself." Yan Chujie said slowly: "I think it is necessary to advance the development plan of overseas coal mines."
The so-called overseas coal mine development plan is the mining plan for the Hon Kei coal mine in Vietnam that was formulated by the preparatory committee before the crossing. This coalfield located in Halong Bay in northeastern Vietnam has more than 2 billion tons of coal reserves and is the largest in the entire Southeast Asia. One of the coal fields, it is also the closest giant coal mine to Hainan, just over a hundred nautical miles away from the west coast of Hainan Island. The coal seams here are thick and the topsoil is thin, which is conducive to open-pit mining. The quality of the coal is excellent, and it is basically all anthracite and coking coal. It also has several natural harbors. The preparatory committee had already regarded this place as a place when formulating the crossing plan. An important flag in the development plan.
When the Preparatory Committee first formulated the plan, Hongji Coal Mine was not a target that was eager to be developed. The Preparatory Committee plans to bring the southern and even western coastal areas of Hainan Island under its control, then develop the Hongji Coal Mine and Shilu Iron Mine at the same time, and build the largest coal-iron complex in Southeast Asia in Shilu. In the overall development plan of the Preparatory Committee, this step was actually formulated as a mid- to long-term goal, but it never imagined that the plan would not change quickly. The Preparatory Committee thought that it could survive by relying on self-produced charcoal and imported coal and coke. In the initial development stage, we did not expect that in less than three months after time travel, fuel would become the biggest bottleneck restricting industrial production. "To develop Hongji Coal Mine, we need to solve two problems." Ning Qi said with fingers crossed: "First, manpower. If there is not enough manpower, even if we go there to reluctantly mine, there will not be enough. production to supply the base camp. Secondly, our current capacity level may not be able to meet actual needs.”
"I don't think this is an unsolvable problem." Yan Chujie seemed to have considered this and immediately responded: "In terms of manpower arrangements, we don't need to transport too many people from the base camp. We only need to select some from the current communes. We can hire most of the miners directly by moving the hard-working people there. To develop the Hongji Coal Mine, what we need is a local management team and an armed force sufficient to ensure safety.”
< br>
"But what was the situation in Vietnam during this period? The regime there should be called Annan now, right? If we rashly open mines there, will it cause hostility?" Tao Donglai asked with some worry. Although the level of military force of the Vietnamese will not be much higher than that of the Ming Dynasty's garrison army, if they want to build overseas bases across the ocean, open mines, set up ports, and station manpower, they have to consider safety first. question. The domestic situation in Vietnam at this time is definitely an important reference.
The only person present who could answer this question was Ning Qi, a history buff. He cleared his throat and gave a simple explanation of what Tao Donglai asked.
In the early 15th century, Vietnam was occupied by the Ming Dynasty army for nearly 20 years. At that time, Vietnam was called "Annan Kingdom". Later, the Ming Dynasty government established three departments: commander, chief envoy, and inspector. The government office renamed Vietnam "Jiaozhi". Vietnam regained its independence in 1427, and the Ming government canonized the then puppet monarch as "King Annan." After that, Annan fell into civil strife that lasted for two hundred years.
In the mid-16th century, due to successive years of war, Annan even fell into a situation of separatism between the north and the south. It was not until the end of the 16th century that General Zheng Song of the Later Li Dynasty defeated the Mo Dynasty entrenched in the north, allowing the Li Dynasty to unify Annam. However, the troubled Annan did not usher in peace. Soon the Li dynasty became a political puppet, and new powerful ministers Zheng and Nguyen emerged in the north and south respectively, once again forming a confrontation between the north and the south.
"This means that Vietnam now... No, it should be Annan, which is on the verge of civil war? That's good, maybe our first arms deal can be landed on these monkeys!" Yan Chujie immediately heard this. Then he became excited. Is a war-torn country scary? It may be true for the local people, but for people with ulterior motives, a war-torn country often means huge benefits.
"In fact, in 1627, which is the period we are in now, the North and the South had already gone to war. From this year until 45 years later, the two opposing parties fought a total of seven large-scale wars, and by the end of The result is still a peace." Ning Qi clearly agreed with Yan Chujie's views and continued: "If we can make reasonable use of Annan's current domestic situation, the benefits that can be brought to us are not only arms exports, but also a large number of people fleeing. Refugees in war zones are also human resources that we can make full use of. If we can take in enough manpower, we can even form a separate area in the local area and form an area independent of the local government like Sanya. "< br>
Thinking that there might be tens of thousands of war refugees, the eyes of the executive committee members present immediately turned red. Moreover, this war will continue in Annan for decades, which means that there will be a large number of refugees during this period. Continuously produced. Not to mention the development of Hongji Coal Mine, this large population can really support an emerging puppet regime in the Beibu Gulf region as Ning Qi said as long as it is used properly.
Tao Donglai slapped the table hard: "Whether it's population or coal, we have to take it!"
(End of chapter)