Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 155 Jinsha Steel Plant

mid-July
More than a month after he led the fleet to Southeast Asia for the second time, the rice harvest season arrived in Davao Province. Counties began to harvest one after another, creating a pleasing scene of harvest.

The Marshal led a group of officials from Davao Province and presided over the ceremony of harvesting the first sickle. He personally took the sickle and walked into the fertile rice fields to harvest the first ears of wheat of this harvest season.

According to the decree issued by the Marshal's Office, urban workers and soldiers all participated in the field harvesting craze. Countless figures worked in the fields, and horse-drawn carriages, donkey carts and carts filled with rice were traveling back and forth in the fields.

Jinsha County

This is a county seat only 67 kilometers away from Davao Province. It is famous for its iron ore and coal mines. The Jinsha Steel Plant, a major project for the development of heavy industry in the entire Mindanao Island, is located in the hilly area more than ten kilometers southwest of the county seat.

Jinsha Steel Plant is located on the bank of Jinsha River, only 20 kilometers away from the estuary. Large ships of thousands of tons can reach it easily, and its geographical location is very advantageous.

Thanks to the early construction, the large factory building of Jinsha Steel Plant began large-scale construction in June last year, and it has been more than a year since then.

When Zheng Guohui led the crowd here for inspection, the large main factory building, which was more than 20 meters high, had been completed. The factory was busy installing steelmaking blast furnace facilities and various pipelines and steel frames. Everywhere was a busy scene.

The government attaches great importance to this large local project.

The new Jinsha County Magistrate, Fan Zhicheng, was also here, temporarily living in the newly built workshop. He led the six clerks from the county government to work on-site to quickly resolve the problems and needs faced by the steel plant construction.

I learned this move from Marshal Zheng Guohui.

This time when he came to Jinsha County for inspection, Marshal Zheng Guohui did not ask Davao Governor Zheng Shouzhong to accompany him, and came with a small entourage.

Among the entourage were Fang Weishan, the chief advisor of the former Jiangnan governor Fuzhu Hong'a, Cao Yuxiu, Mu Qing and others, all of whom were the best choices at the time.

"Your subordinates are here to pay their respects to the commander-in-chief, and wish him good health and happiness!" County Magistrate Fan Zhicheng respectfully led the crowd to pay their respects.

Zheng Guohui said, "No need for formalities. We'll just move to the steel mill site and deal with it as the situation dictates. It seems Zhicheng has learned something from me. So, what do you think?"

"Reporting to the commander, I deeply feel that this method is very effective. It has reduced a lot of excuses and solved all the difficulties, and has greatly accelerated the progress of factory construction."

"Yes, this is the down-to-earth attitude to do things, which is worthy of encouragement." Zheng Guohui nodded in praise.

He ushered Fang Weishan out from beside him and addressed County Magistrate Fan Zhicheng, "This is Mr. Fang, the director I've chosen for the Jinsha Steel Plant. He's highly skilled in general affairs. The two of you should get acquainted with him. Mr. Fang, if you encounter any difficulties at the Jinsha Steel Plant in the future, please contact Mr. Fan directly."

Fang Weishan quickly stepped forward, bowed first and said, "Master Fan, please give me your guidance."

These were the men the Marshal had brought with him, so County Magistrate Fan Zhicheng naturally didn't dare neglect them. He also saluted and responded, "Mr. Fang, this Jinsha Steel Plant is our county's most important project. If there are any difficulties, our county has no choice but to help."

"Thank you for your help, my Lord. I am deeply grateful."

Zheng Guohui ignored their greetings and walked side by side with Joe Smith, who came with him, into the factory, chatting in English as they walked.

Cao Yuxiu, Mu Qing and others who followed behind could not understand the gibberish, but their admiration for the Marshal was beyond words and they admired him deeply.

They both cherish this opportunity to learn on site.

"Dear Marshal, please believe that every dollar you spend is worth it. These two blast furnaces were ordered by a Seattle steel mill, but due to the sudden end of the war, they were forced to abandon their expansion plans. We got them for almost half the price, which is much cheaper than second-hand goods."

"Dear Joe, I have always had great confidence in your professional abilities. This is indeed a great deal."

"Thank you for your compliment. I've put a lot of effort into finding you an experienced, professional engineer. Look at that gray-haired gentleman. He's Chief Engineer Reindes Cole, the best guy on the West Coast."

"Yeah, that looks good."

"He's a bad-tempered old man with a perverted desire for control. He's incredibly demanding about everything, but he's a very reassuring person."

"It sounds like this makes me feel prepared, doesn't it?"

"Haha... Reindes Cole does have a bad temper." Joe Johnson explained a little embarrassedly.

Zheng Guohui smiled casually and did not answer.

The two walked over and saw the white old man with gray hair, who was giving a series of greetings with a strong motherly tone to a dozen engineers and waving his arms to direct them to do things.

He completely ignored the high-ranking officials who were walking by.

Seeing this white guy being so rude, Captain Huo Chongshan of the imperial guards was about to step forward and scold him.

Zheng Guohui waved his hand gently, letting him step aside, turned around and continued talking about the trade with Joe Johnson, and waited patiently.

after a while
Reindes-Cole assigned his men the tasks, then sent them off to work, vowing, "Whoever does the job too roughly will be hung on the eaves more than ten meters high to bask in the sun, and can be seen from the west coast..."

"Hey... man, you look pretty angry." Joe Johnson raised his hand and greeted.

Reindes Cole turned around and looked over, his gray-blue eyes coldly shifting from Joe Johnson to the tall Zheng Guohui before he answered;
"Joe, you damn liar! You tricked us into coming to this remote island halfway across the world. Should I say thank you?"

"Man, that's not what you say when you get paid. You say thank you... dear Joe, you are the sweetest person in the world."

"Are you sure?" "Old man, has your brain been burned by alcohol? If you continue to act stupid, I will deduct $20 from you."

"Ok, you are the boss." Reinds-Cole immediately raised his hands in surrender and finally softened.

The purchasing power of $20 is amazing. You can spend a night with a beautiful girl in Davao City for only one dollar and enjoy the life of an emperor.

Although Reindes-Coeur was the chief engineer, his monthly salary was only $55.

In this era, knowledge is worthless and no one respects engineers. They are only used as skilled workers.

Joe Smith instructed, "Since you can speak so politely, come over and tell our respected employer about the current progress of the steel mill and when it will be ready for trial production."

"Is the respected employer you mentioned this young gentleman?" Reindes-Cole asked with some confusion.

Joe Smith corrected him and said, "Watch your words. Address him as the respected Marshal. He is the big boss of the entire island."

Reindes-Cole's eyes were obviously more serious. He looked Zheng Guohui up and down, took off his hat and placed it on his chest, and said, "Your Excellency, I will obey your orders."

"Then please tell me about the construction progress of the steel plant?" Zheng Guohui said lightly.

"As you wish, Your Excellency the Respected Marshal." Reindes-Cole made a gesture of invitation and led the way, introducing the guests as he walked.
“Please follow me and I will introduce to you the current construction progress of this steel plant, as well as some existing problems and difficulties.

The entire steel plant was built around two blast furnaces, and a complete set of steel rolling equipment was subsequently added, so the main plant area was divided into three parts.

They are No. 1 blast furnace, No. 2 blast furnace and rolling mill.

What you are seeing now is the No. 40 blast furnace workshop, which is currently about 3% complete. It is expected to be basically completed by March next year and start trial production at the end of April. This is the production workshop with the fastest progress.

Please watch your step and go to the cleaner part of the area.

The steel tracks are being laid here, and in the future a trolley with a load capacity of 60 tons will be erected to transport the ladles of molten iron produced.

You can think of this ladle as a teacup for drinking water, except that it contains molten iron from the blast furnace.

We are now building the blast furnace base, which is almost complete.

The next step is to hoist the blast furnace.

The only tools we had were damn chain hoists. Our stingy Mr. Joe Johnson only prepared eleven chain hoists for the installation of this huge steel plant equipment.

It is unbelievable that there are only four heavy chain hoists that can lift the heavy blast furnace.

We're going to use these four hoists to lift two entire blast furnace equipment sets, heavy steam engines and pipes, and all the other damn equipment.

I had to plan the usage time of the heavy chain hoist. If it was not used up here, I had to take it apart and use it there to avoid affecting the progress of the project installation.

You have to know that this heavy chain hoist weighs more than 410 pounds, so we had to arrange several people to carry it around the factory for emergency use.

Can you imagine…”

Seeing that the old man was getting more and more off-topic and soon became excited, and was about to start complaining with a lot of mother-like content, Joe Smith coughed heavily twice and said;

"Ahem, think about your dollar, old man, and get the subject back on track. This is not the place for you to complain."

"Well, damn it." Reindes-Cole shrugged with a look of unsatisfied feeling, stole a glance at the tall nobleman, and then continued;
“The good news is that thanks to our efforts, the installation plan for the entire factory has not been delayed and has been progressing smoothly.

The most advantageous feature is the sufficient manpower, which enables us to simultaneously promote the construction of three workshops and some auxiliary facilities.

For example, the feeding table, sintering machine, etc. You can see that in our shed, the bending equipment and shearing equipment driven by steam engines are running at full capacity.

This large shed produces the steel materials needed for the construction of the steel plant.

This is the cutting team. I have 13 great guys who are responsible for cutting the materials according to size. They do a very good job and are very professional.

If I didn't have to take time out to teach you, I would probably be able to do it even faster.

My God, this is a disaster."

Reindes-Cole introduced the people as he walked, but soon started complaining again.

Zheng Guohui and Joe Smith looked at each other helplessly and could only let him complain. I guess this is what happens when people get older.

During the construction of Jinsha Steel Plant
Zheng Guohui deliberately arranged many apprentices to help these white engineers and at the same time learn some equipment operation, steel cutting and other tasks, in order to train a group of apprentices.

This naturally became a reason for Reindes-Cole to complain. He was naturally unhappy about having to work and teach at the same time.

(End of this chapter)