There is currently no other country on this planet that can pull out hundreds of thousands of people to work on the assembly line all day long, smelting iron, making machinery and making guns like the Great Chu Empire.
Not only because of the huge consumption, but also because the population is a very important resource.
Many countries don’t even have a population of hundreds of thousands...
For example, the Dongluo people, despite their great jumping ability, don't have many Dongluo people. Even if their entire population is brought over to make guns and cannons, they can't expect to be able to produce as many guns and cannons as the Chu Empire.
Another example is the group of countries in Europe, many of which have a population of just a few million or even less.
For example, Portugal was the first to colonize and trade in East Asia, and established an extensive colonial empire around the world. Although they travel all over the world, their actual population is only about one million.
No matter how many overseas colonies there are, they will still be swallowed up by Spain... Their small native population simply cannot withstand the Spanish attack.
For many years in the past, Spain and Portugal were in the period of the United Kingdom, with the same king, but Portugal has always been dissatisfied and wanted to regain independence.
This is also evident in overseas colonies. Portugal's overseas colonies and Spain's overseas colonies are two different things and do not belong to each other.
When the Portuguese still controlled Macau, the Spanish were not allowed to come over to share their interests. Spain was forced to establish a new colonial stronghold in the north of Tai Muang Island.
That is to say, after Macau was restored to the Chu Empire without a word, the Portuguese, who lost their colonial stronghold, immediately lost their strategic support point in East Asia. Only then did they remember that the Spaniards had the same king as them, and then they looked for it. Spain tried to unite to fight and wanted to rely on the power of the Spanish to retake Macau...
It just so happened that the Spaniards were struggling because of the civil strife in the Philippines. At the same time, the situation on Taiyuan Island became increasingly tense. The Spanish, who lacked manpower, simply regarded the Portuguese who came to their door as cannon fodder and sent them to the colonial settlement in the northern part of Taiyuan Island. In the stronghold...
As a result, Portugal, which lost its colonial stronghold, was used as cannon fodder by the Spanish after changing hands. With the Chu Empire's current strength in the East Asian waters, and its attempt to regain the entire Dajuan Island, these Portuguese people may not be able to return to Europe. .
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Luo Zhixue looked at the many iron-making furnaces in the Dangtu Ironworks and the mountains of coal piled in the coal warehouse not far away, and couldn't help but smile.
Dangtu Ironworks uses a large amount of coal to make iron, which can produce a large amount of cinders. In this way, the Dangtu Industrial Zone can use cinders to pave roads on a large scale.
Cinder paving represents more than just a cinder road. Behind it is the rapid development of the coal mining industry and industrial coal use, especially the iron-making industry.
Otherwise, where did you get the cinders?
Thanks to industrial iron-making, the iron production capacity of the Dachu Empire is now very huge, and the huge iron production capacity has brought more guns and guns to the Dachu Empire.
It also brought more cheap and reliable industrial and civilian iron products!
More industrial iron products will bring more mechanical equipment and improve production efficiency.
And more civilian iron products, especially various types of iron farm tools, brought more food to the empire!
No matter what it is here, it is extremely important!
This was also the first stop for Luo Zhixue to inspect after arriving at Dangtu Industrial Zone: Dangtu Iron Works!
Steel is the cornerstone of a country's rise!
Under the guidance of a group of officials, Luo Zhixue carefully observed the factory buildings of the Dangtu Ironworks. Hong Hanying, the Governor-General's Office of the Dangtu Ironworks, who was accompanying him, was introducing the situation of the Dangtu Ironworks.
"Thanks to the strong support from superior institutions and many friends, our factory has completed the second phase of the project and is currently building the third phase!"
"The two phases of the project that have been completed can produce 35,000 tons of iron per year. When the third phase of the project is completed and put into operation, the annual production capacity of our Dangtu Iron Smelting Plant can reach 60,000 tons!"
“Most of the iron materials produced are directly supplied to Dangtu Arsenal, Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory, Dangtu Machinery Factory, Dangtu Hardware Factory, Dangtu Second Machinery Factory and other local government-run factories, and a small part is also supplied to some local factories. Some of the private factories supply factories in other regions, and some are sold directly to numerous private workshops in other places through private dealers."
Luo Zhixue was not very interested in what Hong Hanying said about the sale of iron materials. These days, as long as the iron materials are produced, there will be no worries about sales.
What's more, steel companies are upstream companies, and their tens of thousands of tons of pig iron and wrought iron products are not direct consumer goods, but industrial raw materials.
Their users are all kinds of factories, or even private blacksmithing workshops.
Through numerous government-run or private factories and small-scale iron-making industry-related workshops scattered throughout the country, in addition to a small part of the steel produced by Dangtu Iron Works being directly used in the national defense industry, most of it is actually used in the private sector. industry, especially cooking utensils and agriculture.
In modern times, cooking utensils and agriculture are the largest consumers of iron products!
Tens of millions of people are the largest consumers of iron materials, and the many tools they need to use, such as kitchen knives, iron pots, wood knives, sickles, saws, hammers, hoes, and rakes, are the largest consumers of iron materials.
The two-year-old flintlock muskets ordered by the Dachu Empire's military only lasted a few hundred thousand, and the amount of iron consumed was actually very limited.
However, tens of millions of tools such as kitchen knives, iron pans, sickles, and hoes are used by the public.
If it is purely for the national defense industry, in fact, a large iron smelting plant is enough, and there may even be excess. A considerable part of the previous large iron smelting plant's production capacity has been used by the private sector, and it has already broken out into the world. Hanguo, which has a great reputation and is exported to several surrounding provinces, is the greatest proof of the large iron smelting plant's abundant iron production capacity.
If there is no excess iron production capacity, how can the Ministry of Industry use the iron production capacity to make iron pots and then sell them...
This is even more true when it comes to the Dangtu Iron Smelting Plant. The iron production capacity used by guns and guns is only a small part, and more of the iron production capacity is used for industry and civilian use.
And these demands are almost endless, and are even increasing, and the more they have, the more they can improve the overall productivity of society.
Therefore, for the current Da Chu Empire, the more iron production capacity the better. Currently, several government-run iron smelting plants have a total production capacity of about 100,000 tons, plus many private iron smelting plants with a production capacity of 30,000 to 40,000 tons. , it will only be 140,000 tons if it is enough to hold it to death.
This is far from enough for the huge Chu Empire!
Luo Zhixue looked at the row of iron-making factories in front, then turned to look at a group of officials below, and then said: "Steel is a good thing. It is used by the guns and cannons in the army, the equipment in the factories, and the people's work." It’s needed for food, it’s needed for craftsmen to build chairs, it’s needed for farmers to farm and chop firewood.”
"Although there is a lot of iron production capacity today, it is not enough for the empire, and the current iron price is too expensive!"
"There are many farmers in the land of China. They are still using rusty or even wooden farm tools. How can they open up wasteland and farm with these broken tools?"
"Farmers in the empire need cheaper and better hoes and sickles!"
"Your steel industry has a long way to go!"
While Luo Zhixue was speaking, the group of courtiers below were all listening attentively and memorizing what he said.
No one would think that Luo Zhixue would say anything casually at this time.
These words reflect His Majesty’s great importance and ardent expectations for the steel industry!
Immediately, many officials began to wonder, there is something going on in the steel industry!
Why do officials think so?
Because of promotion!
His Majesty has said that the steel industry is very important. If he develops the steel industry, promotion will not be a matter of minutes.
Luo Zhixue inspected the Dangtu Ironworks for a whole day and saw almost every aspect of ironmaking. In addition, he also saw a newly built experimental ironmaking furnace at the Dangtu Ironworks. He said that it adopts Better refractory materials were used and improved blowers were used.
The overall appearance of the iron-making furnace is larger than that of the original iron-making furnace. Hong Hanying, the general manager of the Dangtu Iron-making Plant, said that this type of iron-making furnace can improve production efficiency and the quality of the pig iron produced is more stable.
Although all the pig iron produced in the furnace is pig iron, it is limited by the level of technology and the production process is not uniform. Therefore, even if the pig iron is produced by the same ironmaking plant, its quality is often different, which has a negative impact on the subsequent secondary production. Processing and steelmaking will also cause certain problems.
Although in Luo Zhixue's view, this thing is actually not fundamentally different from the original iron-making furnace. They are both backward and primitive, but he knows better that technological progress needs to be accumulated. He can only dream of reaching the sky in one step. , don’t expect it in reality.
Even if Luo Zhixue were to design a modern blast furnace now, he still wouldn't be able to do it with the current basic technological capabilities of the empire.
Not to mention anything else, there are no materials alone...
Luo Zhixue has enough patience to let the technical staff ponder step by step and continue to improve. After many small improvements are made, the technological leap will be smooth.
So Luo Zhixue praised a group of engineers who participated in the iron-making furnace on the spot, and ordered people to distribute technical rewards to them.
After inspecting the Dangtu Iron Works, the second factory Luo Zhixue inspected was the Dangdangtu Arsenal.
After all, the main purpose of coming here this time is to see the local defense industry and urge the local defense industry and related enterprises not to be lazy and to quickly increase the production capacity of guns, ammunition and other products.
Especially the two-year-old flintlock gun, the three caliber field guns of two-and-a-half-pound, five-pound, and nine-pound field guns, and the 48-pound mortar, which are the core main equipment and crucial ammunition.
The production capacity of the above-mentioned weapons and ammunition is directly related to the combat effectiveness of the army.
What Luo Zhixue didn't expect was that when he came this time, in addition to seeing a steady increase in the production capacity of various main equipment and everything getting better, he also saw an unexpected surprise.
The ammunition factory of Dangtu Arsenal actually succeeded in producing the new type of grenade he had ordered before!
Not only did they come up with new types of howitzer shells, but in order to launch these new types of grenades, they also trial-produced an 18-pound howitzer with a caliber of 150 mm and a barrel seven times the diameter, specifically to launch this new type of howitzer. New artillery shells.
