Steel is the food of industry.
For a country to industrialize and modernize, the production of steel has always been a top priority.
Although Xia Jun's demand for steel has plummeted, the demand for steel has always been strong in other industrial fields within Xia State.
Zuo Mengeng finished his military-related work and immediately began to care about the steel issue.
He personally inspected the Dongping Steel Plant and saw gratifying changes here.
"The new smelting furnace has been improved many times and has now been gradually improved. This new method has greatly increased steel production. Now three steel plants are enough to meet the country's construction needs."
Jiang Wei accompanied Zuo Mengeng as he walked in the smoke-filled steel factory, while proudly introducing him to the current industrial changes.
Xia's steel smelting finally reached the stage of open-hearth steelmaking.
In the past, blast furnace ironmaking often produced molten steel, but the output and efficiency were very impressive.
In order to obtain enough steel, we can only adopt the method of repeated tempering. Even with the help of hydraulic forging hammers, output and costs remain high.
Fortunately, Xia State has always paid attention to rewarding and protecting the inventions of craftsmen, which made the craftsmen very enthusiastic.
A steel engineer combined what he learned in college and worked hard for several years to finally create an open-hearth furnace.
With this thing, the industrial production of steel has finally become a reality.
The Qingbei Bridge was able to be put into construction because of the explosion in steel production. Otherwise, that much steel would be enough to bankrupt the project.
There are now three major steel plants in Xia Kingdom.
In addition to the Dongping Iron and Steel Plant at your feet, there are also Laiyang Iron and Steel Plant and Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant.
Due to transportation restrictions, today's steel plants rely on ore producing areas. Mining on site, smelting on site, and deep processing on site.
The benefit is that a large number of industrial workers have gathered in the three areas, making the surrounding area extremely prosperous.
Although the steel plant and supporting enterprises emit large amounts of smoke and dust into the air, making the air quality nearby very poor, no one cares about this.
It is impossible for Zuo Menggen to engage in environmental protection.
The biggest task before the Chinese nation now is to use the torrent of steel to make the country as strong as possible, occupy more land, and create a territory rich enough for the reproduction and survival of future generations.
Other than that, nothing else matters.
“What is the current production capacity?”
Lin Jianchen, director of Dongping Iron and Steel Plant, has data at his fingertips.
"Now the annual output can reach 200,000 tons of steel and 500,000 tons of iron. The equipment of our Dongping Iron and Steel Plant has been used for many years. Even the open-hearth furnace is the original model and is not too big, so it can only produce so much More. Like the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant, all the equipment is new and the output is more than three times ours."
Zuo Mengeng personally checked the data and found that the three major steel plants had made history.
The annual output of one million tons of steel is already the highest in the world. Coupled with the production of iron, it is more than twenty times that of all countries in the world combined today.
The Ming Dynasty had the highest steel production during the Wanli period, which was only over 9,000 tons, less than a fraction of the Xia Kingdom.
Based on this comparison, if a war really breaks out, Ming Dynasty will only be defeated.
Lin Jianchen also smoothly reported some good news.
"Qin Guoshi and Li Guoshi have already applied steam engines to textiles. We have seen it in person and the efficiency is amazing. We are just waiting for them to make the steam engines bigger so that they can be put into steel smelting."
Only then did Zuo Mengeng see that the open-hearth furnace used a steam engine to push the preheated air.
However, the power of a single steam engine was too low and could not keep up with the air consumption of the open-hearth furnace. Therefore, five steam engines were installed at the steel plant at one time, using combined power to push preheated air into the open-hearth furnace.
He quickly moved closer to see how the steam engine was put into use.
Fu Xinyuan quickly stopped him.
"Your Highness, according to the security system, you are not allowed to get close to such dangerous things."
Zuo Mengeng didn't even come up for a breath. Just when he was about to scold him, Jiang Wei and Lin Jianchen had the same attitude.
"The operation of the steam engine is not stable enough now, and it will break down every three days. The last time it was the most serious, it even exploded, killing two workers. You are a valuable person, and you must not get close."
Only then did Zuo Mengeng's anger subside.
It's just that it's not very clear from a distance, which makes him particularly regretful.
Lin Jianchen noticed it, quickly cheered up, and explained in detail.
"In order to overcome the shortcomings of unstable operation of the steam engine, Qin Guoshi and Li Guoshi invented a method. They learned from the construction method, surrounded the steam engine with bricks and fixed it from the outside. In this way, the operation was much more stable, and this was can be put into industrial production.”
Zuo Mengeng looked from a distance and realized that the steam engine used in the open-hearth furnace was very similar to the stove used for cooking in ordinary farmers' homes.
There is an oval-shaped object similar to an iron pot in the middle, surrounded by masonry and cement to form a shelf. Most of the steam engine is buried in such a building, and several pipes are extended to connect it to the open-hearth furnace.
It turns out that steam engines in history used this method for a long time when they were put into industrial production.
This steam engine was restored in the movie "Once Upon a Time: The Lion King".
This is also the best way to maintain the stability of steam engines when industrial manufacturing levels are insufficient.
It's a pity that steam engines can be fixed in this way on land. But at sea, facing rough waves, there is no good solution for the time being.
Hearing that steam engines were most commonly used in textile factories, Zuo Mengeng couldn't sit still for a moment, and hurriedly went to inspect the clothing production department of the logistics department.
When Wang Xiuqin accompanied him into the textile factory, Zuo Mengeng couldn't help but stand still.
Before his eyes, the bustling production scene finally gave him a familiar feeling.
In the vast and empty factory building, row after row of textile machines were lined up like a long queue.
The shuttle on the textile machine is spinning rapidly with silk threads wrapped around it. The connecting threads are like countless thin streams, converging in a fixed direction.
Hundreds of female workers walked back and forth among these looms, checking the condition of the silk threads and looms from time to time.
The huge roar of mechanical rotation is very uncomfortable to the ears, but it is also like the most beautiful melody in the world.
Looking at those constantly flowing silk threads, Zuo Mengeng seemed to see the pace of the Chinese army moving forward, seemingly without end.
