It turns out that this is how Europeans make steel! Everyone suddenly realized that this No. 1 blast furnace can put in up to ten tons of materials at a time, and it can produce five tons of molten steel even if the coke and residue are thrown away!
Five tons of molten steel can only fill two huge cast iron crucibles. The tall gantry crane moves slowly based on steam power. The two huge burning red crucibles began to tilt in the mold area!
"Pouring has begun... Look, everyone, the rails have begun to be poured... Below is the rail sand mold for the train track!"
The molten steel draws a line in mid-air, and the red color is very breathtaking!
The liquid molten steel flows in the model, first the bright red of tendon, then the dark red of blood, and finally slowly turning into maroon and then purple and black!
The rails are condensing and forming at a speed visible to the naked eye, and rails are poured out one by one!
At this time, even Weng Tonghe, who was the most opposed to industrialization, couldn't help but clapped his hands and said, "Hey... even if Westerners are very skilled and skillful, it is still a great skill to achieve the ultimate in skill and skill!"
"If we were to produce these railway rails according to the earthen furnaces we used in the past, let alone whether they could be produced. Even if we could produce qualified products, it would not be as efficient as this!"
This is really true. Although the Western blast furnace steelmaking method is very complicated and responsible for the preparation process and takes a long time to bake, it cannot support large quantities!
This is all calculated in terms of tons. The No. 1 blast furnace is the smallest, followed by blast furnaces of 20 tons or even 30 or 40 tons. This was already a very remarkable project at that time!
Zai Chun's tears couldn't stop falling. He pointed at the cooling rails and said, "If our Qing Dynasty... wu wu wu... if our Qing Dynasty already had this steel factory, why would we go to purchase rails? "
"How much extra money has been spent! What our Qing Dynasty owns is coal and iron! We should rely on this to make money!"
"Reward! Big reward!"
Zaichun made a decree to reward these technicians and all the workers in the workshop, but the eunuch was rejected as soon as he passed the decree!
None of the foreign devils bothered to pay attention to the eunuch, and they had no idea what he was saying. However, Xin Jian turned around and yelled at him, "What do you do? I told you not to allow unrelated people to get close... Get out!"
"Where are the guards outside? Are they all blind?"
The guard guarding the outside of the workshop was so embarrassed that he could not speak. He thought to himself that the emperor was here to deliver a decree. How could I dare to stop him?
Xin Jian pointed at the stupid little eunuch and shouted, "Go back and tell Your Majesty that we are about to put the second batch of iron and coke into the blast furnace! There is no time to waste..."
"We only have one hour before we can rest while waiting for the second furnace of molten steel to melt... hurry up and don't delay things!"
The little eunuch was blasted away by Xin Jian. When he returned to the emperor, he cried and repeated what Xin Jian had just said!
The ministers suddenly became angry, "How dare you! You dare not come even when your Majesty calls for it? This is contempt for the court and contempt for the emperor... Your Majesty, please punish me in every way!"
Zai Chun said awkwardly, "Well... this is a factory, not a court. Science comes first, official position comes second. We laymen should not lead experts!"
Fu Qing, who had been silent all this time, smiled and said, "You adults don't know something! This blast furnace steelmaking is not a traditional steelmaking method. There is no way to stop the work. Once the furnace is ignited, it will be processed day and night..."
"As long as this blast furnace stops working, it will be scrapped in less than an hour!"
"Look, everyone! This blast furnace is full of red molten iron. After it's fired, wouldn't it be empty when you pour it out? If you don't add fuel and iron materials right away... the molten iron hanging on the wall will be inside after a while. Cool and condense!”
"When the time comes, there will be a thick iron shell inside, and you can't add materials or dump it. Do you want people to go in and knock on the iron shell bit by bit? It's unrealistic..."
"So if the blast furnace starts to make steel little by little, it will burn until the moment the life of the blast furnace ends. It will burn day and night to make steel!"
"Ah!" People suddenly exclaimed, "Natural day and night? Twelve hours non-stop? No rest for a year?"
"Of course, as long as the blast furnace has no quality hazards, it will burn for as many years as it can be used... If you are confident in the quality of the blast furnace you build, you can't stop burning it for a hundred years!"
With a bang, the officials were in an uproar: "This, this, this...what if we don't need steel for a while? If we continue to make steel, won't we lose money?"
Fu Qing shrugged, "There's nothing we can do about it. The market doesn't need steel, so we have to burn it and hoard it. We'll sell it when the market improves!"
"The ceasefire will destroy this furnace, and the compensation will not be a penny!"
The ministers were a little unhappy when they heard this. Some people murmured, "The methods of these Westerners are not very smart! There is no need for steel in the market. When the price is low, they cannot stop production and have to lose money to produce steel!"
"That is, the blast furnace is burning day and night, and black smoke is emitted every day... Can anyone still live in this capital? There is no time to rest for a day?"
Just when many officials were complaining in low voices, a voice suddenly spoke and began to ridicule these short-sighted people!
"Humph! I disdain your company! I really have no knowledge at all!" When people saw it, it turned out to be Prince Zheng Chengzhi who had no actual errands.
When it comes to others scolding the ministers, no one dares to say anything. This Prince Zheng is a well-known dandy prince in the capital, a vicious prince who does not do serious things but does bad things!
How dare such a person accuse others? If he didn't have the title of prince, the officials would never agree and would have started a quarrel long ago!
Chengzhi glanced at the ministers, then smiled and said to Emperor Tongzhi, "Your Majesty! Don't listen to their nonsense! The Qing Dynasty has thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, and there are so many places to use steel!"
"How can there be times when steel is not needed? This production capacity is never enough, how can there be a surplus?"
"Your Majesty! Now that the Beijing-Tianjin railway has been repaired, we can also build the railway from the capital to Zhengzhou! Let's build the railway from the capital to Luoyang!"
"The steel used in these railways is enough for our iron factory to work for half a lifetime!"
"Shengjing, Xi'an, Lanzhou, Hankou, Jiangning, Shanghai... as long as the Qing Dynasty has built railways, the business of this iron factory will be tens of thousands of years!"
"I would like to congratulate Your Majesty and the Qing Dynasty... I have a memorial to write!" Prince Zheng Chengzhi actually knelt down, took out a memorial from his sleeve, and raised it high above his head!
Zai Chun was stunned for a long time before he motioned to the eunuch to take the memorial. "Oh... Prince Zheng actually knows about important national affairs? Can you still give me the memorial? It's not easy... Hahaha!"
"I must see this... I must give you this face!"
"Hahaha... Chengzhi can write memorials... Hahaha..."
Zai Chun took the memorial and opened it. The contents inside made his smile freeze. He opened his eyes wide and never thought that such words would be written by Prince Zheng Chengzhi!
