Iron Dynasty

When Shi Yunshan saw the youth and officials in dragon robes approaching the iron mine, his palms sweated.

He used to be a member of the Qingzhou Minerals Division. He used to follow Qian Dafu to travel south and north. When the court decided to build a steel mill and an iron mine in Laiwu, he volunteered to come to Laiwu.

Because he is a native of Laiwu, he is very familiar with this place.

When he was nervous and overwhelmed, a group of people had already arrived in front of him.

Qian Dafu smiled and said to Xiao Ming: Your Majesty, he is the Shiyun Mountain that the old slave always mentioned, and he discovered the Laiwu Mine.

On the way, Qian Dafu introduced this Shi Yunshan. He looked up and down at Shi Yunshan. From Shi Yunshan's dull expression, he could see that he was an honest person.

The lower officials see the emperor. After Qian Dafu's introduction, Shi Yunshan saluted Xiao Ming.

No gift. Xiao Ming's interest now lies in the production of the mine, he said; Qian Dafu said that you are smart and strong, so I will see how you have managed the iron mine this time?

Shi Yunshan nodded, Your Majesty, please come with the officials.

After all, Shi Yunshan took Xiao Ming and a group of officials to the front of the mine. The iron mine in Laiwu is surrounded by mountains and low hills.

Taking a look at the surrounding environment, Xiao Ming looked at the pit. The originally flat ground had now formed a pit with a depth of five meters.

The scope of the mine is very large, about a thousand meters in diameter. At this time, more than 6,000 people are wielding mining tools in the mine to chisel blocks of ore from the ore body.

Your Majesty, it has been half a month since the mine was mined. Our mine has provided 60,000 tons of ore for the steel workshop. On average, one craftsman has mined 10 tons of ore. Shi Yunshan said, pointing to the sweaty craftsman.

Sixty thousand tons. Xiao Ming nodded with satisfaction. He picked up a piece of iron ore and looked at it.

This piece of iron ore is brown-red and belongs to hematite. Generally speaking, the iron content of hematite is 70%.

These 60,000 tons of hematite ore should be able to make more than 40,000 tons of steel.

Shi Yunshan was afraid that Xiao Ming would dislike this output, so he said: Your Majesty, mining iron ore is very hard. It takes a long time for a craftsman to break a piece of ore with tools. Mining is very difficult.

I understand, these 60,000 tons of ore are not easy. Xiao Ming's expression was warm, and he could see Shi Yunshan's concern.

Shi Yunshan breathed a sigh of relief, and took Xiao Ming to continue the tour. When he walked to the steam engine of the mine, he excitedly said, Your Majesty, now this mine can produce so much ore thanks to the steam engine. With him, the craftsman will directly The ore is placed on the minecart, and the minecart can be pulled up by the steam engine.”

Xiao Ming and the officials saw the rails leading to the mine at this time. On the rails, mine carts came and went, and the mine carts were full of ore.

This scene completely reassured Xiao Ming. His main concern was the use of steam engines. Now that the Great Yu Kingdom has entered the era of steam, only by relying on steam power can it leap forward.

After checking the use of the steam engine in the mine, Xiao Ming and Shi Yunshan went to the living area of ​​the craftsman.

Now there are red brick houses standing in the deserted wilderness, and it seems to be a settlement.

In modern times, towns will form around many mines. Xiao Ming focused on building Laiwu into iron and steel workshops and mines. Because of these industries, a town that relies on iron and steel workshops and mines for survival will also be formed here.

After a brief look at the mine, Xiao Ming and the others went to the Laiwu Iron and Steel Workshop.

The current iron and steel workshop is in full swing. The transported iron ore has turned into red molten steel here, and then into various shapes of steel products.

The workshop supervisor of Laiwu Steel Workshop is Chang Fei. He used to be the technical backbone of Qingzhou Steel Workshop. He was dispatched here for this large-scale steel workshop.

After entering the steel workshop, Chang Fei took everyone to see the six production lines in the workshop in detail. Now all five production lines are busy.

Your Majesty, at present Laiwu Iron and Steel Factory mainly produces rail parts, in addition to some farming equipment, daily steel supplies and other things, the six production lines have just been able to meet the order. Chang Fei wiped his sweat and looked at The converter looked like he was looking at his own child.

The sound of the steam engine hum chi constantly sounded in the steel workshop. The traditional steelmaking method saved a lot of labor due to the participation of the steam engine.

Xiao Ming looked at this modern steelmaking plant filled with all kinds of machinery with satisfaction. In his plan, the Laiwu Iron and Steel Plant mainly produces steel products for civilian use.

The Qingzhou workshop and Kaiping Iron and Steel Workshop are mainly for the production of military steel, and will only produce civilian goods if they are satisfied with the military.

This visit to Laiwu made him care about Qingzhou's steel production capacity. In his opinion, the Laiwu Steel Plant is enough to produce one million tons of steel a year.

The Kaiping Iron and Steel Workshop is also estimated to be similar. Together with the Qingzhou Iron and Steel Workshop, the annual iron and steel output of the Great Yu Kingdom should be 2.2 million tons.

This output has been able to burst the UK.

However, the country of Great Yu is vast and has a large population. If you calculate it carefully, he is still not as good as the United Kingdom in terms of average.

Xiao Ming is not discouraged by this. The total surpassing is also surpassing. Now that he has such a foundation, he has surpassed the United Kingdom in technology.

After inspecting the mine and Laiwu Iron and Steel Workshop, Xiao Ming rested in Laiwu for two days, and then rushed to Kaiping Iron and Steel Workshop.

As expected, the output of Kaiping Iron and Steel Factory is half a catty compared to Laiwu.

In the next six months, he took advantage of the time when the barbarians stopped, and successively inspected other workshops required by the reform, and gained a general understanding of the implementation of the reform.

In general, under the strong promotion of Pang Yukun and Fiji, the construction of the workshops is very smooth now. Most of the workshops have been put into production now, and some of them will soon be put into production.

At that time, Dayu Country has formed an industrial chain with government-run workshops as the core, and this chain will provide Dayu Country with a steady stream of industrial products.

And most importantly, the rudimentary industry will provide resources for the war.

After working hard for half a year, the time has shifted from spring to autumn. In previous years, officials would be frightened at the time when the autumn was high and the horses were fat.

Because autumn is often the time when the barbarians launch an attack on the Great Yu Kingdom, the barbarians have been too quiet for the past six months, and Xiao Ming has been concerned about it. This kind of calmness makes him a little uneasy.

And this worry was fulfilled when he returned to Qingzhou from Dengzhou.

The barbarian cavalry suddenly bypassed the northern pass and appeared under the city of Songzhou from the direction of Tubo. In just one day, the city of Songzhou was conquered, and the barbarian army went straight to Yizhou.