Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 437 The Age of Iron and Fire
After seeing off his eldest son, Mu Tianyou, Mu Shunan stood at the Shixing Port dock, watching the fleet of ships gradually disappear into the distance. He felt a sense of emptiness in his heart until they turned into black dots on the horizon, and only then did he reluctantly turn his gaze away.

The sea breeze, carrying a salty, damp scent, brushed against his face. He took a deep breath, turned, and walked towards the railway station.

At 11 a.m., the carriage arrived in Guangfeng amidst the jingling of bells. Mu Shunan got off the carriage and walked among the bustling crowd, but the worry in his heart did not diminish in the slightest.

As he turned the corner, he paused for a moment, glanced up in the direction of the steel plant as usual, and then strode forward.

Guangfeng Steel Plant is located in the north of the city, less than three miles from the nearby iron ore mine. Two tracks connect the two mines, continuously transporting the screened ore to the plant.

More than a decade ago, this place was just a few earthen furnaces and simple sheds; now it has developed into a large steel plant covering more than 200 acres.

The towering chimneys spewed black smoke day and night, and the roar of the forging hammers could be heard from a great distance.

A new brick wall has been built around the factory area, and armed factory guards patrol the entrance.

Besides preventing unauthorized residents from entering, this was also to prevent the leakage of technology. After all, the smelting technology of Guangfeng Steel Plant was absolutely "high-tech" at that time, leading the world by a full century.

As soon as Mu Shunan reached the factory gate, he saw a group of people gathered around the blast furnace area, arguing about something.

"What's going on?" he asked the gatekeeper, frowning.

"Hey, Master Mu, didn't you take a day off? Why are you here again?" The gatekeeper glanced back at the threshing ground and whispered, "I heard the steam blower for Boiler No. 2 is having problems, and Chief Engineer Liu is furious!"

Mu Shunan sighed and quickened his pace toward the blast furnace area.

The blast furnace area is the core of the steel plant, with three blast furnaces, each over ten meters high, built of refractory bricks, standing in the center, surrounded by rails, cranes, and conveyor troughs.

The most eye-catching feature is that each blast furnace is connected to a steam-driven blower, which is a "new type of double-cylinder steam blower" introduced from Xinhua Heavy Industry last year. It is said that each one can be operated by dozens of strong men at the same time.

This device provides a more continuous, stable, and powerful wind force by having two cylinders work alternately.

Compared to previous hydraulic and wind-powered blowers, the twin-cylinder steam blower is not limited by natural conditions and can significantly improve blower efficiency and air pressure.

Its role in the steel production process is significant. It can continuously supply a large amount of air (oxygen) to the blast furnace, which can significantly increase and stabilize the temperature inside the furnace, accelerate the reduction reaction of iron ore, not only increase the output of pig iron, but also greatly improve the quality of pig iron. It provides important technical support for the large-scale and efficient development of Xinhua Steel Industry, and thus promotes steel production to a new stage.

However, at this moment, one of the machines was emitting white smoke and making irregular clicking sounds, and several workers were frantically checking it.

Liu Yao, the factory's deputy chief engineer, roared at several young technicians responsible for maintaining the steam engines: "You're all useless! You all claimed to have mastered the machine's maintenance procedures, so how come you can't even fix a small problem? Were you all lazy and didn't put in the effort when you were learning maintenance from others?"

A young technician blushed and said, "Chief Engineer Liu, this machine has a complex design; how could we possibly understand it completely! Judging from its appearance, it's definitely not a small problem..."

"Oh, so you can only handle small problems. Once a major malfunction occurs, our entire factory will be ground to a halt? Do you know how much money we lose if we stop work for a day? Losing some money is one thing, but if we miss this month's production target, let's see who among you can afford to bear that?"

"Hmph, all of your production bonuses for this month are being deducted!"

"Chief Engineer Liu..." Several technicians immediately became anxious, "This really isn't our fault! Even if the technicians from Xinhua Heavy Industry came, they might not be able to repair such a complex machine in a short time!"

"Alright, you wait here. If the technicians from Xinhua Heavy Industry can fix it in no time, then your entire technical allowance for this month will be deducted!"

"Ah!..." The faces of the technicians immediately turned extremely ugly.

The production bonus plus the technical allowance amounted to a full two yuan and fifty cents, enough to cover the food expenses of a family of several people for more than half a month!

Mu Shunan stepped forward: "Old Liu, what's going on?"

"Hey, Old Mu, didn't you go to Shixing Port to drop off your son?" Liu Yao's expression softened slightly when he saw Mu Shunan. "What, you're back so soon?"

"I've already sent him away. I was just bored and came back to check on him... What's wrong? Is the problem serious?"

"Don't even mention it. This morning, the engineer at Boiler No. 2 said that the air pressure of the blower was insufficient, and it was unable to raise the temperature of the flames inside the furnace. After checking the equipment, they found that the steam engine was malfunctioning and could not provide sufficient power to the blower."

"Could we reconnect the old waterwheel?"

"Oh, in that case, it will probably take at least a day to complete." Liu Yao said with a wry smile, "Besides, those waterwheels have been sitting for a long time, and we don't know if they can even be loaded. Let's wait a while. I've already sent someone on horseback to Xinhua Heavy Industry to ask for help."

Mu Shunan squatted down and carefully examined the large object in front of him.

Its outer casing has been removed, revealing a complex array of components inside. The cast-iron boiler is connected to two robust piston rods, which drive a massive blower via a crankshaft, then compress air into the blast furnace.

He cautiously reached out to touch the cylinder, but the scalding temperature made him immediately pull his fingers back.

"Old Mu, be careful." Liu Yao reminded him with concern from behind, "Don't get hurt, otherwise the workshop will be without your experienced hand."

"This thing is really amazing." Mu Shunan put his finger to his lips and blew on it a few times. "Who would have thought that with these steam engines, we would never have to worry about water shortages in the summer again?"

"Hehe, of course." Liu Yao also squatted down and looked at the machine. "With this thing, factories will no longer be restricted by the environment and location of water flow and wind. We can build factories and set up machines wherever we want. Moreover, the steam engine as a driving force is more stable and has greater power than water power and wind power."

"I heard that woolen mills, cotton mills, and several machine processing plants are all preparing to introduce this kind of steam engine. By the way, the Ministry of Science and Technology and Xinhua Heavy Industry are also planning to put these machines on horse-drawn carriages. Tell me, what would we call a carriage that doesn't need horses anymore, but is all powered by steam engines?"

"An iron horse-drawn carriage, I suppose," Mu Shunan said instinctively.

"Haha..." Liu Yao laughed upon hearing this. "An iron horse-drawn carriage, that's right. Iron lumps replace horses, so it's an iron horse-drawn carriage. But I'm thinking, when this iron horse-drawn carriage is running on the road, the carriage will be piled with coal. Where will the people and the goods be put?"

"This thing is as strong as a dozen or twenty strong men, so it can definitely pull heavier goods. At most, we can connect a few trailers to the back of the iron wagon, and then we can transport goods and people. Just like the rail wagons in our ironworks, they can pull seven or eight trailers of iron ore at a time."

“Hey, I have to say, Old Mu, your idea is really the best way to transport goods with iron horse-drawn carriages.” Liu Yao nodded repeatedly. “If we put a few more steam engines in the carriage of the horse-drawn carriage, or make the machine more powerful, it can definitely pull seven or eight, or even more, trailer carriages in the back.”

"This thing doesn't eat fodder and doesn't need to rest in between, so it can be used for much longer than a horse. It might even be able to run day and night, year-round. Tsk tsk, I wonder how much more efficient it would be than it is now!"

As the two were chatting, two technicians hired from Xinhua Heavy Industry arrived at the factory and, led by a foreman, went to the blast furnace area. "Is the problem serious?" Liu Yao asked cautiously as he watched the technicians skillfully disassemble the machine parts and then use a brush to continuously sweep away the coal slag adhering to the parts.

Wang Dong'er glanced back at him and said in a muffled voice, "It's not a big problem. I guess it's just that too much coal slag and carbon deposits have clogged the air intake valve."

As he spoke, he unscrewed the last bolt and removed the intake valve.

Sure enough, a layer of black carbon deposits had accumulated at the valve opening, obstructing the flow of air.

"What's going on?" Mu Shunan also came over.

“Incompletely burned coal ash.” Wang Dong’er took a file from her companion and began to slowly scrape away the attached soot. “Do you usually use low-quality coal?”

"Uh..." Liu Yao looked a little embarrassed. "Well, the factory was trying to cut production costs, and it seemed a waste to throw away some coal that was covered in dirt and other impurities, so we had the workers put it into the boiler to burn. Also... and some unburned coke left over from iron smelting was also put in..."

“That won’t do.” Wang Dong’er looked at him seriously. “This machine looks very crude, but some of the parts inside are quite delicate. We can’t put too much low-quality coal in. Otherwise, not only will the coal smoke be heavy and easily injure people, but the slag and ash will also damage the parts inside the machine.”

"So you'd better burn more good coal, otherwise..."

He didn't say anything more, and continued to repair the machine in front of him with his tools.

Liu Yao gave a wry smile and shook his head.

Guangfeng County does not produce coal locally. Both the high-quality coal needed for steam engines and the coke used in blast furnaces were transported from Fenzhou (now Nanaimo) and Hejiang (now Courtney).

Although the distance is not very far, only a little over 100 kilometers by water, the additional transportation cost still has a significant impact on the ironworks' production costs.

When using coal and coke, the ironworks' operations and management personnel naturally tried to save as much as possible. The inferior coal that had been sorted out and the coke that was left over from burning were all thrown into the steam boiler in accordance with the principle of not wasting anything.

In their minds, it's all about boiling water to produce steam anyway, so what kind of fuel is burned in the boiler doesn't matter, as long as it can burn normally, that's enough.

However, they never expected that burning low-quality coal would damage the machine, which was a case of losing more than they gained.

"You lot, come over here and learn from them!" Liu Yao shouted at the ironworks mechanics. "Find out all the other taboos and precautions for this machine. Don't let it cause problems again where you're all clueless and have to waste time and effort going to Xinhua Heavy Industry to call someone for help!"

"Chief Engineer Liu, we can't burn low-quality coal to avoid carbon buildup and ash accumulation in the machines. We've already clearly explained this to your ironworks mechanics," Wang Dong'er said earnestly, raising her head. "Any other taboos or precautions are also documented in the installation manuals. If you can't handle the problems yourself, don't blame us!"

Upon hearing this, the mechanics from the ironworks all glared at him angrily, their hearts filled with resentment.

Damn it, if you want to shirk responsibility, you can't say it in front of our chief engineer!

This is really bad news!
Sure enough, Liu Yao glared at Wang Dong'er immediately after hearing her words, his eyes filled with gloom.

"Hmph..." He snorted coldly, pointed at them, "You're all doing a great job! This month's production bonus and technical allowance will be deducted. As for next month, I think it's better not to pay it at all! We'll restore it once we've figured out these machines."

Seeing this, Mu Shunan simply shook his head and chuckled, not wanting to plead for these poor fellows.

These young people have only enjoyed a few days of comfort. None of them have the mindset of being prepared for danger in times of peace. Instead of cherishing this hard-won opportunity, they are thinking about slacking off at work. Aren't they afraid of being fired by the ironworks?

A monthly salary of five yuan would be enough to make countless people fight tooth and nail to get the job in the Ming Dynasty.

I still remember more than ten years ago, when he first came to the New Continent, after receiving his first month's salary, he clutched the dozen or so silver coins in his arms and hid in his room, crying for a long time.

From that moment on, he decided to dedicate his life to Xinhua.

As Xinhua's development progressed and his salary increased, he felt a growing sense of belonging to both Xinhua and the ironworks.

My whole life has been wasted here.

"All done!" Wang Dong'er wiped the valve clean, reinstalled the steam engine, and then turned to the mechanic at the ironworks: "Try lighting it."

The boiler was restarted, and the steam pressure gradually increased.

With a crisp "click," the piston began to move rhythmically, the huge impeller slowly turned, and a strong airflow rushed into the blast furnace through the ceramic air duct.

Two quarters of an hour later, the flames inside the furnace turned from dark red to blazing white.

"It's done!" Wang Dong'er clapped her hands, a triumphant smile on her face.

"Young masters, since you're here today, could you please provide some hands-on guidance to our ironworks' mechanics on how to maintain and service steam engines?" Mu Shunan asked softly.

Upon hearing this, the mechanics standing nearby immediately cast grateful glances at Mu Shunan.

"I'm afraid we don't have time today." Wang Dong'er looked up at the sun high in the sky and shook her head. "We have to go to the wool factory this afternoon to install and debug the steam engine for them. If your ironworks is interested, you can send people to our Xinhua Heavy Industry to learn how these machines operate and are maintained from start to finish."

"Oh..." Mu Shunan nodded slightly upon hearing this. "Alright, we'll send the people over to you another day. We'll need you to take good care of them and teach them properly."

Wang Dong'er smiled and nodded: "As long as we get the orders from above, we will naturally teach you how to maintain and care for the machines properly, and we will never let them break down frequently. Otherwise, it would ruin the reputation of Xinhua Heavy Industry."

"The molten iron is being tapped!"

From the distant No. 1 blast furnace came the low shouts of the workers, a batch of molten iron was about to be produced.

With the help of the steam blower, the molten iron melted more than an hour earlier than before. The molten iron poured out of the furnace mouth, shining with a dazzling golden white color, with almost no impurities.

Mu Shunan took a deep breath of the scorching air, as if he were smelling the breath of a new era.
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(End of this chapter)