August 18, the 33rd year of Guangxu's reign, 1907 AD, Lianjie Town, Weiyuan County, Sichuan.
Lianjie Town is located in the Yunlian Mountain District northwest of Weiyuan County, about 37 kilometers away from the county seat.
The coal, bauxite and iron ore resources here are quite abundant.
As early as the Warring States Period, iron smelting workshops and trading shops were dotted here.
After Liu Bei entered Shu, Zhuge Liang sent smelting officials to Lienjie to set up a smelting shed, which was the earliest iron smelting center in Sichuan.
The Weiyuan Steel Plant under Xingke Company is also located here.
After nearly one and a half years of construction, the main plant area has been completed, and all major equipment has been put in place and debugged.
Last year, when the Yangtze River was flooded, Wen Desi recruited more than 50,000 victims through work-for-work relief.
Although Wen Desi saved these victims, they also played a big role in Xingke Company's fantastic development and construction speed.
About 60% of them are used for the construction of Chengdu-Chongqing railways, highways and nearby infrastructure, and the other 30% are invested in the construction of Weigang.
At this time, the construction of Hanyang Iron Works, China's largest, took three and a half years, while Wei Steel only took less than a year and a half.
In addition to sufficient manpower, the extensive use of construction machinery and ultra-modern technology were also important factors.
In fact, if Weiyuan County's infrastructure was not so poor, this speed could be accelerated by one-third.
After all, it is only a "small steel plant."
This is no joke.
Weigang's current designed annual output is 70,000 tons of iron, 140,000 tons of steel, and 43,000 tons of special steel.
It can produce more than 60,000 tons of rails, three times that of Hanyang Iron Works at this time.
However, in Mr.
Wen's view, a steel plant of this level is still too small.
Even at the beginning of the 21st century, it would be the size of a township steel plant and would be subject to forced closure.
"Woo!"
A train loaded with coal rumbled in.
With a loud whistle, it slowly slowed down and entered the station of the coking branch plant and stopped.
The gate on the side of the carriage opened, and countless pieces of coal poured down.
This platform is specially used for unloading coal.
Next to the railway is a trapezoidal ramp with a large upper part and a small lower part, like a cutaway funnel.
The coal unloaded by the train will automatically fall along the ramp to the conveyor below.
Belt, this design saves a lot of labor.
The coal was delivered from the Huangjinggou coal mine more than 20 kilometers southeast.
This section of the railway was the earliest railway built by Xingke Company.
It was opened to traffic last month.
However, it is a factory railway and is only used for internal transportation.
Mileage is not included in the official route.
Weiyuan's coal mines are rich in resources and of extremely high quality.
It is the best coking coal with low sulfur, low phosphorus and low ash content.
Among the coal mines in Weiyuan, Huangjinggou is the largest one.
In the original time and space, the British began to develop it in 1910.
Of course, it is no longer a matter of Niu Niu.
Now there are Shanwang, Xinchang, Yuexi, Longhui, and Zhenxi.
Several coal mines are all under the umbrella of Xingke Company.
On the other side of the coking branch, another train delivers the finished coke to the blast furnace, and then into the blast furnace via a conveyor system.
At this time, the fire was blazing, the iron ore in the blast furnace had turned into molten iron, and dazzling sparks burst out from time to time, which were burning impurities.
Wen Desi accompanied a group of distinguished guests and waited on the rostrum next to the blast furnace for the furnace to start.
Today is the first day that Weigang officially started production.
As early as half a month ago, Wen Desi notified relevant people and invited them to visit and cut the ribbon.
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The distinguished guests on the rostrum at this time are all of high profile.
From this province, there are acting Sichuan Governor Zhao Erfeng, Sichuan Chief Envoy, Yongning Road in southern Sichuan, Jianchang Shangnan Road, Jiading Prefecture, Xuzhou Prefecture, Zizhou Prefecture Weiyuan and Not to mention the county magistrates of several nearby counties.
Many people from other provinces also came.
Xiliang, who was in Kunming, was also thinking about this matter.
There were too many things in Yunnan and Guizhou and he couldn't come by himself, so he sent a close confidant to come.
Zhang Zhidong of Hubei, Yuan Datou of Tianjin, Duanfang of Liangjiang, etc., these "foreignization pioneers" also sent their respective representatives after learning the news.
Although the weather is relatively hot now, there is a pergola set up on the rostrum, and there are more than a dozen "country air conditioners" composed of ice trays and electric fans placed around it, so the distinguished guests do not feel uncomfortable.
"Mr.
Wen, the equipment of your steel plant is quite advanced, including an automatic feeding system," said Li Weige, general manager of Hanyang Iron Plant.
This time he came on behalf of Zhang Zhidong.
After Zhang heard about the scale of Weigang, he felt a little complicated, so he sent this expert to find out the truth.
As a result, Li Weige was shocked when he saw the results today.
Not only did Weigang's output far exceed that of Hanyang, but its level of advanced technology was even more incomparable.
This Li Weige is not a good guy.
In order to make personal profits from selling the Daye Iron Mine to the Japanese, he and Sheng Xuanhuai bullied Lao Zhang as a layman and falsified the ore analysis results, reporting the phosphorus content of the Daye Iron Mine.
If it is too high, qualified products cannot be produced.
In fact, it’s not that Daye Iron Mine doesn’t have good iron ore.
Otherwise, if the Japanese people’s brains were not broken, how could they have been buying Daye Iron Mine for decades?
They were all sold, and the high-phosphorus secondary ore was reserved for Hanyang's own use, so that good steel could be smelted.
After Lao Zhang's death, they spread rumors and forced Lao Zhang to take the blame.
In later generations, he became a model of "a layman commanding an expert" who went wrong.
Wen Desi despised this kind of thing, but now was not the time to settle accounts, so he smiled and said modestly: "Haha, Mr.
Li Weige, we just have the advantage of being a latecomer.
Hanyang's equipment is more than a dozen Years ago, nature seemed backward compared to what it is now.”
Although Wen Desi holds the title of Fourth Grade Alternate Dao on his head, he is still not wearing official uniform today, but is wearing a casual suit.
To be precise, he had never touched the official uniform issued by the Qing Dynasty.
The officials present also knew that he was an "American" and turned a blind eye to his "discourteous" behavior.
Oh, the red envelope is quite thick.
Even if it’s for money’s sake, I have to pretend not to see it.
"Hahaha, now I also have an iron factory in Sichuan, and the biggest civil servant in the country deserves the most credit."
Zhao Er's plump face turned red.
This old man was the happiest person today.
Damn, can you be unhappy if you picked up a big wallet for nothing?
The comrade who came from Kunming gritted his teeth as he watched.
Bastard, this was all my boss's political achievements, so this guy got a lot of advantage.
Not only this master, but other guests also had the same idea.
Mr.
Zhao was so lucky that he bought the largest steel factory in the country as soon as he took office without doing anything.
While everyone was talking, a sharp electric bell suddenly sounded.
"The iron is out, the iron is out" The workers hurried to their respective positions to prepare to start the furnace.
The officials on the rostrum couldn't help but stand up.
"Wow!"
The gate slowly rose, and dazzling hot molten iron poured down from the furnace.
Part of it flows into the sand mold along the pouring channel and condenses into an iron ingot of 50 kilograms.
The other part is poured into the molten iron ladle and sent to the open-hearth furnace for steelmaking.
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After the iron ingot cooled down, a master craftsman ran over and knocked it with a hammer.
He suddenly looked happy and shouted: "Success, good quality iron."
Several inspectors also came over to take a few samples.
Take it to the laboratory for testing.
About half an hour later, an inspector ran over and handed several inspection reports to Wen Desi.
The inspector said excitedly: "Mr.
Wen, this is great.
After testing, all the indicators of the sample are qualified."
Wen Desi took it and looked at it, and smiled: "Thank you for your hard work, everyone."
He said and handed the inspection report to the distinguished guests beside him.
There is a brochure on the table of these distinguished guests.
It describes the principles and processes of ironmaking and steelmaking in the most understandable words, with pictures and texts that anyone who can read can understand.
The atlas also described what qualified steel was, and the distinguished guests looked at the inspection report based on the atlas.
The prefect of Jiading said with a smile: "Oh, gentlemen, according to this album, the sulfur, phosphorus and silicon content of this furnace of pig iron is far below the standard.
It is truly high-quality refined iron."
Among this group of VIPs, except Lao Zhao, this guy is The happiest thing is that Weigang is in his Jiading mansion.
"Congratulations, Mr.
Wen."
Li Weige looked at the inspection report and his face suddenly turned pale.
Damn, the quality is much better than the one in Hanyang, so the tone is a bit sour.
All the distinguished guests came forward to congratulate him.
After Wen Desi thanked everyone, he said: "My lords, it will take another 4 hours for the steel to be produced.
There is no need to wait in vain during this period.
I invite you to visit the glass factory.
When we come back, this furnace of steel will be almost ready.
"Come out" The glass factory is less than 5 kilometers next to the steel factory.
Mr.
Wen took them on the factory train.
This time, a passenger car was specially decorated for these VIPs.
Naturally, it was also equipped with "country air conditioning", which was very cool.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after entering.
The official uniforms of the Qing Dynasty did not include summer clothes, and it was uncomfortable to be wrapped in that outfit.
This was one of the reasons why Wen Desi never wore official uniforms.
After getting on the train, Beiyang representative Yang Shiqi looked around and asked curiously: "Hey, civil servant, why is the train here so much wider?"
Wen Desi explained with a smile: "Haha, our railway uses a wide gauge with a gauge of 2500 mm, which is much wider than most gauges, so the trains are naturally much wider."
"Excuse me, civil servant, why such a wide track gauge is used?"
Yan Fu next to him asked in confusion.
This man came as a representative of Liangjiang this time.
He is one of the people who knows the West best.
Apart from Xingke, although his major is the navy, he is no stranger to railways and steelmaking.
Wen Desi also had to Admit it, Duanfang is a very suitable candidate.
"This problem is very simple."
Wen Desi thought for a while and said, "Narrow gauge wastes transportation capacity too seriously.
According to calculations by our experts, under the same conditions, wide gauge carriages can more than double the interior volume and increase the passenger volume.
It can be increased by about three times.
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Our country has few railways and a large population, so we need to make full use of railways, so broad gauge is more suitable for our country’s national conditions.”
Mr.
Wen thought to himself: Am I going to tell you that this size is the best track gauge recognized by many railway experts in the 23rd century?
I will follow this standard now, so as not to end up with the size of two horses’ butts, which will be hard to come back from.
It was difficult to change it, so we had to do it on the colonial planet.
Anyway, in this era, all countries have not standardized track gauges.
There are various sizes, and even each railway company has its own standards.
Not only do we have seven or eight gauges in Qing Dynasty, but the European and American powers are also similar.
The United States has more gauges than we do in Qing Dynasty.
Another 2500 mm gauge is not a problem at all.
Weiyuan is rich in quartz sand and limestone mineral deposits, and the quality is quite good.
It is also close to the coal and iron mines, so when Wen Desi was building a steel plant, he also built a glass factory.
The name of the factory is " Starlight".
China in this era really lacks everything, even glass factories.
At present, apart from the Xingguang Glass Factory, which was put into operation in May, there is only one glass factory in the country, which is Boshan Glass Company, which was put into operation in October last year.
However, this factory has been in decline and is about to close down this year.
"Hey, such a large piece of flat glass and it's extremely horizontal is really rare."
The distinguished guests were amazed when they looked at the flat glass that was three meters long and two meters wide.
Flat plates in this era were all produced by the roll-pressing method, which made it difficult to make completely flat large-format glass.
However, Xingguang Glass Factory used the float process, which made the glass large, flat, and extremely fast.
Because the float process is entirely a matter of ideas and too easy to imitate, we found a "dangerous" excuse and did not allow these distinguished guests to visit the production workshop.
Xingguang's glass products only started to be taken out last month.
In addition to sending some to various related customers, all the previous products were digested internally.
Xingguang Glass Factory not only produces flat glass, but also produces various daily glassware, bottles and cans for packaging.
In addition, it provides raw materials to light bulb factories, and finally some glass crafts, decorative ornaments and so on.
As for optical glass, medical glass, special glass, glass for brewing tanks and other high-end stuff, they are still being tested and will probably take several months to be ready.
Now these distinguished guests will get a set of glass souvenirs, an inkstone, a pen holder and a paperweight.
These handicrafts are exquisitely made and look very pleasing to the eye.
In the afternoon, after Wen Desi and others returned to Weigang by train, the molten steel was officially released.
The red molten steel poured into the iron mold and solidified into ingots.
"The sulfur and phosphorus contents are both below 0.035.
Is this true?"
Li Weige held the inspection report in his hand, his whole body trembling, and he only felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
The two technicians from Hanyang looked at each other and said helplessly: "General Manager, we have also tested it ourselves and the data is accurate."
They were brought by Li Weige for the purpose of inspecting the technical level of Weigang. , originally they were a little arrogant and prepared to show off their seniors' reputation in Weigang, but in the end they were severely slapped in the face by the cold facts, and now they are like a defeated rooster.
The other officials were laymen, just watching the fun, and at most they felt excited.
But it's different for him, an expert.
He knows very well how difficult it is to improve the quality of steel, and it gets harder the further you go.
The most shocking thing is that Weigang is just a new factory, but it can actually produce such high-quality steel, most importantly using new equipment.
This is too subversive of common sense.
Even in the European and American powers, only a few manufacturers can smelt steel of this quality in one go, while other manufacturers need to smelt it many times to reach this level.
"Now the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway can finally be fully laid," Wen Desi couldn't help but smile while listening to the roar of the rail workshop.
The rails used in the front were all second-hand goods purchased from the United States by taking advantage of the economic downturn.
Although these items are very cheap, it is too troublesome to transport them from the United States to Sichuan
.
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