Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 546 The Rear (Part 7)

On the morning of September 28, 1642, as dawn broke, the Dongping Canned Food Factory, located in Shixing City (now Victoria Harbour) in Dongping County, was already bustling with activity.

Inside the factory, workers dressed in uniform coarse cloth overalls were busy carrying buckets of fresh whale meat and salmon, while others were carrying out filling and sealing operations in an orderly manner in the filling area.

The workshop was filled with steam, and the air was thick with a rich and complex aroma of meat and seafood.

Chen Axiu is a veteran worker at this canned food factory. She is in her early thirties and her face bears the marks of years of hard work.

She skillfully tied her apron, put on her sleeves, and carefully tucked her black hair into her work cap.

More than a decade ago, shortly after the cannery was established, she joined the factory and became a filling worker.

With his down-to-earth and hardworking spirit, he went from being a food pre-processing worker to a skilled veteran in the bottling workshop, earning a monthly salary of four or five yuan.

Of course, if there was a lot of work in the factory, there would be extra bonuses, ranging from one to three yuan, which was a world of difference compared to the miserable days when they couldn't even afford to eat in the Ming Dynasty.

Although Chen Axiu had never been to school, she frequently participated in the knowledge and skills training arranged by the factory. She had also attended a literacy class many years ago, making her a woman of considerable knowledge in this era.

"Sister Xiu, look over there, what are those unfamiliar horse-drawn carriages?" Li Cuiqin, a young female worker next to her, came over and pointed to the factory gate, saying, "Our factory manager went to greet them personally, and there are many police guards. It seems that government officials have come to inspect!"

After graduating from primary school, Li Cuiqin did not continue her studies. She stayed at home for several years to help her parents with housework and take care of her younger siblings. After turning sixteen, she went to work in a factory.

Perhaps because of her young age, she was full of curiosity about everything in the factory, and in the relatively relaxed social atmosphere of Xinhua, she also had a very lively personality.

"Oh, maybe." Chen Axiu glanced back, not taking it seriously. "Since the war started, our factory has often been visited by officials, and many military officers come to check on our production from time to time. There's nothing unusual about it."

"Oh no, they're going into the workshop," Li Cuiqin exclaimed softly. "The workshop is full of minced meat and fish; we mustn't let them get any on us..."

“Since that official dared to come in, I guess he doesn’t care about these things at all.” Chen Axiu smiled. “I remember when I was a child, I saw those committee members personally doing farm work and fiddling with machines in factories!”

"Really?" Li Cuiqin was somewhat skeptical.

In all her life, the highest-ranking official she had ever met was the township head.

There's very little chance of meeting someone from the highest levels of national leadership, like the "masters" of the decision-making committee.

Upon seeing high-ranking government officials enter, the workers in the factory subconsciously composed themselves and quickened their pace.

When Xiong Zeqian, deputy minister of Xinhua Science and Technology Department and head of Xinhua Light Industry Group, and his entourage entered the workshop, all the workers couldn't help but stop what they were doing, their eyes showing a hint of surprise.

Because they saw several workers carrying three or five wooden crates following behind them, and the crates were making a crisp metallic clanging sound.

Could it be... that the government is here to give us a consolation prize?

Those boxes were full of silver coins and copper coins!
"Just put it here," Xiong Zeqian said, pointing to the open space in the center of the workshop.

“Committee Member Xiong, this is…” Ma Wenchang, the head of the cannery, looked over in confusion.

Xiong Zeqian smiled and turned to a thin man in his thirties beside him, saying, "Engineer Xu, you talk to him."

The man called "Engineer Xu" nodded to Ma Wenchang but didn't say anything. Instead, he took a screwdriver out of his tool bag and squatted down in front of a wooden box.

His name is Xu Zhong. He was originally a blacksmith from the Ming Dynasty. After systematic training and years of honing his skills, he has now become a technical backbone of Xinhua Special Metals Factory.

"Committee Member Xiong, don't worry, the samples we brought this time are much improved compared to the previous ones, and they should be ready for use." Xu Zhong said, taking out a small, shiny silver tin can from the pried-open wooden box.

"Is this the new canning material they delivered to us?" Ma Wenchang immediately realized, reaching out to take it and examining it closely. "Is it made of sheet metal? Won't it rust if it gets wet with cooked meat and water?"

He tapped the small tin can lightly with his fingers a few times, producing a dull sound.

“This isn’t ordinary sheet metal,” Xu Zhong laughed. “Well, to be precise, this can is die-cast from tin-plated thin steel sheet.”

"Tin-plated sheet metal?" Ma Wenchang reached out and touched the inside edge of the can, feeling its smoothness and flatness, as if it were completely different from ordinary sheet metal.

“That’s right, it’s tin-plated steel sheet.” Xu Zhong pointed to the inner edge of the can. “Look, there’s a layer of tin inside, which can effectively isolate the iron from contact with air and moisture. The reason why iron rusts is because it combines with the ‘essence’ (i.e., oxygen) in the air. The tin layer acts as a barrier, blocking this process and preventing the metal surface from rusting.”

He paused, looked up at Ma Wenchang, and said, "Anyone with a little knowledge of chemistry will understand the situation here. Director Ma will know, so I won't go into too much detail."

“This sheet metal—oh, no, I mean tin-plated tin cans—is probably far more expensive to use as canning material than ceramic or glass jars,” Ma Wenchang said, getting straight to the point. “A year ago, the cost was indeed frighteningly high,” Xu Zhong chuckled. “The value of just one tin-plated can was probably equivalent to dozens of glass jars. However, we have now achieved large-scale and standardized production of tin-plated steel sheets through the ‘hot-dip tin-plating method,’ which has greatly reduced costs.”

"Of course, its cost will still be slightly higher than the canning materials currently used in your cannery, but its application can greatly enhance the transportation and preservation efficiency of canned goods, and will not cause damage or leakage due to collisions or shaking. It is definitely the best packaging material for canned goods needed for ocean-going merchant ships and battlefield supplies."

Tinplate, also known as tinplate, originated in Bohemia in the mid-to-late 14th century.

At that time, there were abundant iron and tin mines there, and many craftsmen would dip thin iron plates (black iron sheets) that had been forged into shape into molten tin and manually coat them with a layer of tin.

Initially, production was entirely by hand, and the cost was incredibly high. Only the most powerful nobles and wealthy merchants could afford these metal products, treating them as luxury items, similar to gold and silver utensils.

Given that canned goods made from ceramic jars are often subject to collisions or violent shaking during transportation and storage, resulting in breakage and leakage and rendering the canned goods unusable and wasted, the Xinhua Science and Technology Department and the Institute of Metal Materials, with the guidance of experts, began researching the production technology and process of tin-plated iron sheets several years ago.

To this end, Xinhua also brought in several tinplate manufacturing craftsmen from Europe with extremely high salaries through its smuggling partners in Spanish America, the Alamobo family (Vice-General of Peru) and the Garza family (Vice-General of New Spain).

With a large amount of resources invested, tinplate was quickly replicated and produced.

However, this production method not only has extremely low output but also high costs, making it unsuitable for large-scale commercial use.

Therefore, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Institute of Metal Materials began to focus on researching and experimenting with new manufacturing processes in order to produce tin-plated iron sheets at a lower cost.

However, the demand for tinplate was not urgent at the time, and many canned goods and food packaging still used earthenware or glass, resulting in limited investment of funds and personnel, which slowed down the research progress.

However, with the onset of war, the military's demand for canned food increased, but the canned food, packaged in earthenware jars and glass, was prone to breakage. When transported to the Mexican battlefield, the breakage rate was as high as 30%-35%, causing complaints from the soldiers at the front.

As a result, research on tin-plated thin iron sheets was immediately given high priority, and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Industry drew a large number of experts and experienced front-line craftsmen from other research institutions and departments to carry out collective research.

After months of repeated experiments, a huge amount of manpower and resources were spent, and with sporadic tips from time travelers (mainly because there was no detailed technical data or memory, only a vague concept), the production process and procedure for hot-dip tin-plated steel sheets were finally developed in August of this year, based on previous research.

It is important to know that before this, tin plating relied on manual brushing or low-temperature coating, which was inefficient, resulted in serious waste of tin layer, and low yield. Hot-dip tin plating solved these pain points through industrialization, directly promoting tin-plated steel sheets from "expensive niche materials" to "industrial materials that can be applied in batches".

Why can hot-dip tin plating significantly reduce costs?
This production process essentially transforms tin plating from a "manual craft" into an "industrialized process." Through standardized pretreatment, efficient immersion plating control, and simplified post-treatment, it solves the core problems of early tin plating processes, which were "slow, expensive, and of poor quality," thus significantly reducing the cost of tin-plated steel sheets.

Its core logic lies in the qualitative change in efficiency through "efficiency improvement + material saving + improved yield". Manual tin plating requires brushing and drying each piece, and only a few dozen steel plates can be processed per day.

Hot-dip tin plating, through a "continuous immersion plating" process, can process steel plates several meters long per minute or process single steel plates in batches, increasing production efficiency by more than thirty times and significantly increasing output per unit time, thus spreading out equipment and labor costs.

In addition, manual tin plating is difficult to control the thickness. In order to ensure the rust prevention effect, excessive tin is often applied, resulting in uneven tin layer thickness and excessive thickness in some areas. Hot-dip tin plating, on the other hand, can stabilize the tin layer thickness within a reasonable range by controlling the immersion time, the speed at which the steel plate is pulled out, and the temperature of the molten tin. Moreover, the tin layer has strong adhesion and no waste, which directly reduces the consumption of precious metal tin.

By the way, no tin mines have been discovered within Xinhua's own territory. All the raw materials needed are purchased from the Ming Dynasty or imported from Europe through smuggling partners in Spanish America, which is quite expensive.

However, the large-scale industrial application of tinplate is a revolutionary innovation in metal packaging materials, which will completely change the way food is stored and transported.

The emergence of tin-plated tin cans not only met people's demand for food diversity, but also provided a reliable food supply method for the logistics support and ocean voyages of the Xinhua Army.

Especially during the ongoing New Zealand War, compared to the previous ceramic cans, tin-plated tin cans could preserve food for a longer time and were easier to carry, providing frontline soldiers with reliable, portable and durable nutritional support, quietly rewriting the logistical landscape of the war.

“Little Ma…” Xiong Zeqian pointed to those gleaming silver cans, “This is a new packaging material that the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Special Metals Factory have been working on for more than half a year and have just made a breakthrough. As Engineer Xu just introduced, it is rust-proof, sturdy, and has good sealing properties, which will greatly solve the problem of damage during transportation.”

"The samples I brought today are the task assigned to your factory. You must immediately organize your best personnel to use these tin-plated iron cans to produce the first batch of military-grade tin canned food. Fish, whale meat, and even pork and beef can be tried."

He paused, looked around at the workers who were listening intently, and raised his voice slightly: "But you must remember, what we're bringing today isn't just a new packaging material, but also an expectation. The soldiers on the front lines are fighting a bloody battle, enduring wind and rain, eating dry, hard biscuits. What they need most is energy, nutrition, but also a delicious taste!"

"Therefore, you can't just be satisfied with cooking food, packaging it, and making sure it doesn't spoil. What's the difference between that and feeding livestock? You must do your best to make canned food that the soldiers are willing to eat, like to eat, and even look forward to eating!"

"While ensuring the quality of the canned goods and guaranteeing their long-term storage without spoilage, we should think of ways to create more delicious flavors with limited seasonings. How about the saltiness? What about the oil ratio? Can we find a way to remove some of the fishy smell of whale meat and increase the use of spices? We could even consider different flavors, such as original, savory, five-spice, or even a slightly spicy one, to give the soldiers more choices!"

Xiong Zeqian looked at Ma Wenchang, then at the several workers in the workshop who were clearly experienced masters: "Little Ma, and all of you experienced masters, you are all experts in dealing with food. For this task, we have Engineer Xu and his team working together to solve the new processes for packaging and sterilization, but the improvement in taste will depend on you. You must treat this as an important political task to complete."

“Think about it.” His voice softened, carrying a hint of encouragement and anticipation. “When our soldiers desperately need nutritional supplements, imagine opening a can of food on the battlefield and finding that it not only fills their stomachs and replenishes their strength, but also provides a familiar, even surprisingly delicious, taste. What a comfort that would be for them! It’s certain that this would greatly boost our morale and inspire our troops!”

"Therefore, when you're making canned food, taste is the most crucial element. You need to put your heart into it, not just your heart, so that our Xinhua soldiers can not only eat their fill, but also eat well! Let these tin cans not only be their military rations, but also a little something to remember them by and a source of warmth on the battlefield. Do you understand?"

Upon hearing this, Ma Wenchang immediately stated, "Please rest assured, Committee Member Xiong! Our Dongping Canned Food Factory guarantees to produce well-preserved and delicious tin-plated canned goods in the shortest possible time, and we will certainly live up to the government's expectations!"
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(End of this chapter)