Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 208 Jinsha Steel Plant Starts Production

As distinguished guests at the dinner party, the British people's every move seemed more complicated to those who cared.

When Colonel Li Jingshang, Director of the General Affairs Bureau of the Kingdom's Navy, saw two British men surrounding Aurora and showing their courtesy, he turned around and picked up a few pieces of fruit from the table with a plate.

He said casually, "Brother Xuemao, it seems the foreigner has other intentions."

"We have a saying in Yangzhou: flies don't bite seamless eggs." Wang Xuemao was born into a wealthy salt merchant family and is very knowledgeable.

Just one look and you can tell what kind of tricks the British have.

When it comes to playing tricks, the British are well-known around the world. They are called "European troublemakers" and are known for their shrewd conspiracy and calculations.

But in the eyes of the Chinese, who have a cultural and historical origin of thousands of years, this little bit of pettiness seems ridiculous.

Colonel Li Jingshang chewed a piece of dragon fruit slowly and said, "Inform the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Have them keep a close eye on this woman and those British. The founding ceremony and the coronation ceremony of the King of Chu are approaching. Don't let anything go wrong."

"Don't worry, Brother Li, Xuemao has his reasons." Wang Xuemao picked up the champagne glass in his hand, took a sip and replied.

Many people at the banquet saw the interaction between Aurora and the British, and they were particularly cautious.

In Europe, such interactions in social settings are very common and normal.

But this is the East, and most of the people present are Chinese who are very conservative at heart. They are very sensitive to the British people's courtesy on the spot, which is like a beacon in the dark night.

Seducing someone's wife and daughter is a crime punishable by being thrown into a pig cage.

Although the Kingdom of Chu was relatively open-minded in accepting Western culture and had a liberal social atmosphere, it was not so liberal as to tolerate adulterers openly exchanging glances.

The beautiful concubines brought by high-ranking Han officials to attend the dinner basically gathered in the circle of noble ladies, or followed their husbands and kept to their duties.

During the days in Manila
The British delegation continued to be aggressive, and the Provisional Government skillfully dealt with it, neither hurting the relationship nor agreeing to any excessive demands.

January 12st

The second wave of trading fleets from North America arrived at the Port of Manila. A total of 23 large sailing ships were loaded with thousands of tons of machinery and equipment, two sets of steel plant blast furnace equipment, three cement plant equipment, and a full set of artillery and rifle production equipment, an astonishing number of items.

The large-scale trade between Chu and America also aroused great interest from the British, and their words revealed a sour taste, which was nothing but various kinds of belittlement and contempt.

The English are indeed entitled to be proud. The steam industrial revolution that originated in the British Peninsula has put the British at the top of the world in terms of industrialization.

However, considering the poor industrial base of Chu State, the best solution is to buy American factory equipment at a fire-sale price.

In particular, the complete set of artillery and rifle production equipment, which cost only one-fifth of the British equipment, was completely dismantled from the bankrupt Casewell Arms Factory in New Jersey.

Most of the equipment has only been used for a few years and is at least 80% new.

The person in charge of escorting the fleet equipment back was Zheng Yulan. Originally the son of a Weiyang salt merchant, he had matured rapidly after more than two years of training and was now able to stand on his own.

While in San Francisco
As an assistant to Zheng Xin, the trade representative of Da Chu in the United States, Zheng Yulan participated in dozens of acquisition negotiations and credit loan negotiations with the Wan Guo Tong Bao Bank. She had extensive contact with people from all walks of life in western North America, from politicians, capitalists, financiers, businessmen, lawyers to professors, and her knowledge and abilities were greatly enhanced.

the same day

Good news came from Mindanao. After five and a half months of day and night work, the No. 5 copper smelting blast furnace of Jinsha Steel Plant, a key construction project in the kingdom, was successfully ignited and put into production, producing the first batch of qualified copper liquid.

This is one month ahead of the originally expected start date.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu was overjoyed and issued a commendation order to the Governor's Office of Tongzhou (Note: formerly Mindanao Island), promoting the former Jinsha County Magistrate Fan Zhicheng to the position of Jinsha County Magistrate, and promoting the Jinsha Iron and Steel Plant Director Fang Weishan to the position of County Magistrate, concurrently serving as the Director of Jinsha Iron and Steel Plant.

The industrial development of Jinsha County is in full swing. Dozens of factories have been put into production. It has become an important industrial town in Tongzhou area and a powerful engine for economic development.

Driven by the government
Hundreds of various handicraft workshops have emerged in Jinsha County, covering almost every category, with a total number of professional workers reaching more than 9300, ranking first among all county governments.

Key industrial enterprises such as Jinsha Foundry and Jinsha Steel Rolling Mill also went into production one after another, and began to provide steel products to the society in a steady stream, representing that the industrial development of the Chu State had entered a new stage.

In the current social stage

The Chu State's steelmaking and copper, lead and zinc smelting industries were still mainly based on local traditional smelting furnaces. There were 170 to 180 traditional smelting furnaces of various sizes, which met the urgent needs of society with simple production conditions.

Although the quality varies, it solves the urgent problem of availability.

The official start of production at Jinsha Steel Plant represents the advanced steelmaking capabilities based on modern blast furnaces, and is playing an increasingly important role in steel industry production.

Looking around the world
In the United Kingdom, which was the first to initiate the steam industrialization process, blast furnaces accounted for more than 70% of the steel industry's output, and the country gradually eliminated the backward traditional iron-making furnaces that had low output, high pollution, and were time-consuming and labor-intensive.

In France, however, less than 30% of the iron and steel industry is produced by advanced blast furnaces, while the rest is mostly produced by backward traditional iron and steel furnaces, which still dominate the steel industry.

In Prussia, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, almost 100% of steel production was done in traditional iron smelting furnaces, and advanced blast furnace production capacity had not yet been introduced.

Compare from this perspective
The level of steel and heavy industry developed by Chu State was slightly lower than that of France, but under the leadership of the upper class of the kingdom, the development speed was very rapid.

The No. 2 blast furnace at Jinsha Iron and Steel Plant is making good progress and is expected to start trial production in February and reach full production capacity between May and June.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu paid particular attention to the smooth commissioning of the No. 1 copper blast furnace. The rapidly increased copper smelting capacity would greatly enrich the kingdom's finances and solve the current problem of insufficient currency.

The molten copper produced from the copper smelting blast furnace of Jinsha Steel Plant will be poured into molds to cool and shape, and then quickly sent to the rolling mill.

After the copper ingots are heated in the steel mill, they are processed into thin copper sheets through rolling mills and then sent to the Kingdom Coin Mint in Manila.

Here, small round copper plates are produced by punching machines, and then copper coins of different denominations are produced through processes such as rolling and stamping.

The denominations of copper coins are 10 wen, 20 wen and 50 wen. The larger the denomination, the thicker and heavier the copper coin is.

These copper coins played an important role in social circulation, greatly enhancing the economic vitality of the new kingdom, promoting commercial development and material circulation, and presenting a thriving scene in the market.

The mint of the Great Chu Kingdom also recycled a large amount of silver from the Philippine silver pesos, Mexican silver pesos and mainland silver. After remelting them, they added a certain proportion of steel to make silver dollars with a face value of 1 yuan.

One silver dollar is equivalent to one tael of silver, which is equivalent to one US dollar, and five silver dollars are equivalent to one pound.

This makes business transactions simpler, faster and more convenient, and the exchange of multiple currencies is no longer a problem, greatly increasing the convenience of use.

The State of Chu also received seigniorage from it. A piece of nutrient was slightly lighter than one or two taels of silver, and about 10% of cheap fine steel was added to greatly increase its hardness.

For every silver dollar minted, a 16% seigniorage could be obtained, which was equivalent to making money out of nothing. The Kingdom's Provisional Government increased its wealth by millions of silver dollars in just one year.

These high-quality silver dollars and copper coins were widely welcomed by merchants in the Nanyang region and had a very high acceptance rate. With the development of trade, their usage increased.

Then the next day passed.

On March 12

The ancestral tablets that were welcomed back to the mainland by Colonel Zheng Shan, deputy commander of the Royal Guard, along with several healthy elders and some Zheng family members, including the old lady Zheng Qian, Zheng Guohui's wife Zheng Li, etc., totaling 237 people, arrived safely in Manila and were then arranged to live in residences in the royal city.

At this point, all preparations for the founding of the country and the enthronement ceremony of the King of Chu came to an end.

Every household on the street began to post red paper wedding couplets, hang big red lanterns, and clean the streets and shops. The bustling crowd was filled with an inexplicable joy.

Envoys from some kingdoms in Southeast Asia arrived one after another, such as the Kingdom of Siam, the Kingdom of Burma, the Kingdom of Nanyue, the Kingdom of Ryukyu, the Grand Duchy of Lanfang, the Kingdom of Fuso, and representatives from the French Governor-General of Saigon and the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, and the State Guesthouse became lively.

these days
In addition to meeting with envoys from various countries, King Zheng Guohui of Chu returned to Ganquan Palace to be with his beloved wife Zheng Li. The couple reunited after a long separation and were extremely close during these days, needless to say.

The scheduled ceremony was on January 1867, 1, the Dingmao year in the Gregorian calendar, which was October , the fifth year of the Tongzhi reign of Emperor Muzong of the Qing Dynasty. It was an auspicious day that was carefully chosen for sacrifices, celebrations, groundbreaking and beam raising.

At this time, the northern continent was engulfed in war. The Eastern Nian Army was winning victory after victory, and reports of successive defeats were flying to the capital like snowflakes. The imperial court was in a state of panic.

One side is happily preparing for the celebration, while the other side is plagued by internal and external troubles and wars. The difference is really clear.

At the end of the fifth year of Tongzhi

Lai Wenguang, a general of the Eastern Nian Army, fought a fierce battle against the Qing army in the Yinlong River (now Yonglong River) area of ​​Hubei Province, and won a series of victories.

Some time ago

After the Nian Army split up from Yi Province, the Eastern Nian Army marched into Hubei, planning to cross the Han River and enter Sichuan via Yichang. They launched a surprise attack at Luojiaji, Anlu, Hubei, annihilated four battalions of the Hunan Army, and captured Admiral Guo Songlin alive (he escaped after being abandoned on the road due to a foot injury).

He then annihilated the Huai Army's general Zhang Shushan's troops at Xinjiazha in Anlu, killed Zhang Shushan in battle, and defeated the Huai Army, forcing it to flee in panic. This shocked the government and the public.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the following year

The Eastern Nian Army defeated the Huai Army's Admiral Liu Mingchuan's troops at Yinlong River, killing generals Tang Diankui, Tian Lu'an and others, and the battle situation became increasingly difficult.

Hunan Army Admiral Bao Chao led his troops to launch a surprise attack on the rear of the Eastern Nian Army. In the chaotic battle, Liu Mingchuan and the rest of his troops took the opportunity to escape, and both sides suffered losses.

The Eastern Nian Army lost more than 10,000 elite soldiers, so it gave up its plan to enter Sichuan and headed north to Yi Province, returning to the familiar battlefield to fight the Qing troops.

In February, the Eastern Nian Army re-entered Hubei and once again defeated the Hunan Army at Shengang, Qishui. They killed the titular provincial governor Peng Yuju in battle, frightening the remaining Hunan Army and forcing them to retreat.

After a series of hard battles, the Eastern Nian Army suffered heavy losses. When it returned to the Yinlong River area, it was blocked by Bao Chao, Liu Mingchuan and other troops, and had to retreat to Henan again.

After seeing the summary of the situation from the Shenzhou Continent, King Zheng Guohui of Chu could only shake his head repeatedly, unable to do anything to help the court's current corrupt situation.

Today, the northern part of China is full of wars and bandits, showing the decadent scene of the end of the dynasty. It is really not easy to maintain it.

I feel a little sorry for Prince Gong Yixin. I don't know how he manages to maintain this mess. It's really a thankless job for him!

(End of this chapter)