Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 268 Domestic Railway Planning and Layout
In the steel plant's material yard, copper ore powder and iron ore waiting to be smelted are piled up like mountains, stretching more than 1,600 meters long and thirty to forty meters high.

There are two steam shovels running on the rails, working non-stop in the material factory, loading bucket after bucket of raw materials into the material car, which greatly saves manpower.

The steam shovel, which acts like an excavator, was originally invented by William Otis, who patented his design in 1839.

They were mounted on a chassis with a boiler and moving engine installed inside and traveled along rails.

The bucket arm and drive engine are mounted on one end of a chassis that can swing to a limited extent. The bogie is equipped with flanged wheels, and the wheels are powered by an axle driven by a chain.

When working, the steam shovel moves back and forth along the railway track.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu did not know much about this type of engineering machinery. He simply instructed his entourage to conduct in-depth technical research on the steam shovel and improve its performance.

At least you can move freely and the speed requirement is not very high, so the work flexibility is greatly increased.

The machine can be made bigger, the bucket can be made bigger, and ways can be found to improve it so that it can rotate 360 ​​degrees freely. These are all areas for improvement.

After watching for a while

Surrounded by the crowd, King Zheng Guohui of Chu went to the production workshops where blast furnace No. 3 and blast furnace No. 4 were located and inspected the smelting scene in full swing.

When they came out, almost everyone's face was covered with sweat, mixed with the fine gray-black soot scattered in the factory. With a wipe of their hands, their faces became clown-like.

A warm white towel soaked in water will turn into a black towel as long as it is wiped on the face.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu and everyone else chatted and laughed at the pool in front of the office building of the Batangas Steel Plant, washed briefly, and then went into the factory conference room for a meeting.

This is his habit. Whenever he inspects important industrial and mining enterprises and large-scale infrastructure facilities, he will hold an on-site meeting to work together with various departments to solve any problems found.

In a meeting
Baron Fang Weishan, general manager of Nanyang Heavy Industries, presented specific data, stating that the current production capacity is far behind the supply capacity of the mines, and hopes to plan the third phase of the Badayan Steel Plant.

The third phase of the project includes two iron-making blast furnaces and one copper-making blast furnace, which will increase the annual smelting capacity by approximately 40,000 tons.

After the completion of the construction of all production capacity, the Batangas Steel Plant will be able to reach an annual production capacity of 10 tons, ranking among the world's top steel plants today.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu agreed after only a brief consideration.

In the project arrangements of the Ministry of Transport for the next three years, there are railway construction projects on Hainan Island and Tongzhou Island, and railway construction projects of varying lengths are also planned on Palawan Island and Shangri-La Island.

After the projects started one after another, the demand for rails increased significantly, but the increase in steel production can still be absorbed.

Among the islands suitable for planning and building railways, the mainland includes Hainan Island and Tongzhou Island, plus Palawan Island.

Hainan Island is part of a construction plan with Manila as the core railway hub, which includes two railway lines to the south: Manila to Verde Island (Note: passing through Batangas) and Manila to Cavite.

Both railway lines are not long, only 85 kilometers to Cavite Peninsula and 157 kilometers to Verde Island, which is considered the longest railway line to the south.

Due to the obstruction of mountains to the east, it is difficult to build a railway, so there is no plan to build a railway to the east for the time being.

Manila plans to build three railways to the north. One is from Manila to Dagupan Province through Angeles in the northwest, with a planned total length of 332 kilometers.

One is from Manila northward through Cabanatuan, Luzon to Wuxingfu. The planned railway is 638 kilometers long and directly reaches the northern coastal bay.

One is from Manila to Casiguran in the northeast, with a planned total length of 185 kilometers.

The railway plan for Hainan Island put forward by the Ministry of Transportation is a railway network plan with Manila as the core railway hub and radiating to the south and north. The total length of the five railway lines is 5 kilometers, basically covering the main areas of Hainan Island.

The overall construction scale is not large and the difficulty is not high. The biggest difficulty lies in the construction of more than a dozen large railway bridges across the river. The total investment is estimated to be around 67 silver dollars.

The cost of building one kilometer of railway was about 480 silver dollars. This was the railway investment budget based on the labor of 5 convicts.

The railway planning of Tongzhou Island (Note: formerly Mindanao Island) is basically a closed-loop railway line consisting of two railway lines.

One route extends westward from Davao Province, connecting many prefectures and counties along the bay, and goes straight west to the Zamboanga Peninsula, connecting 14 prefectures and counties along the way. It is called the "Gulf Railway" and is 1552 kilometers long.

One stretches out from Davao Province to the north, runs through Hainan Island from north to south, and goes straight north to Cagayan Province, with a total length of 377 kilometers.

The Palawan Railway planned by the Ministry of Transportation is even simpler, a straight line from south to north.

Palawan Island is shaped like a French baguette, narrow and long, sloping from northeast to southwest. It covers an area of ​​11785 square kilometers and is 39 kilometers wide at its widest point. The main mountain range runs through the entire 434-kilometer-long island.

The Palawan Railway runs in a straight line from south to north along the hilly area of ​​the eastern coastal plain, with a total length of 351 kilometers, covering all prefectures, counties and towns in the coastal plain.

The whole formation is a long snake, with Angel Port in the middle as the core. If there is an invasion by foreign enemies, troops can be easily transported through the railway line, greatly enhancing the defense.

The railway line connecting the north and the south can facilitate the transportation of goods, which is of great significance to the development of the island's economy.

If the above-mentioned railway line is completed, it will greatly promote the overall colonization and development of the Hainan Islands, rapidly increasing the overall development from the current less than 10% to about 30%.

Convenient transportation conditions can enable full reclamation and development along the railway line, make the transportation of agricultural and sideline products more convenient, enhance national strength, and enable the Chu state to have the capacity to absorb tens of millions of people. The benefits are self-evident.

The on-site meeting resolved many issues. After it ended, King Zheng Guohui of Chu, accompanied by the crowd, walked to the square outside the steel plant office building and stood there. He turned around and said earnestly:

"Lord Fang, Lord Dong, I will now hand over the responsibility of Nanyang Heavy Industry to you, as well as the talent we have brought in from the West. If the institute needs money, I will provide it. If it needs people, I will provide them.

This king hopes to see the research results as soon as possible, whether it is the current production process improvements or the domestic blast furnace equipment that increases production and efficiency, we must see tangible results.

You should pay attention to the Western scientific and technological personnel in the factory's steel smelting research institute, give them care and generous treatment, let them contribute their wisdom and talents to the development of the kingdom's steel industry, and cultivate more talents.

Fang Aiqing is in charge of the overall work of Nanyang Heavy Industries. With so many factories under his management, he must be very busy and unable to get away.

In this regard, Dong Aiqing should take the initiative to stand up, share the worries of his superiors, take charge of this matter and achieve results.

The food is right in front of your mouth, but you don’t know how to eat it. Isn’t that a hopeless person?
If you do not see satisfactory results in scientific and technological innovation, I will hold you all to account and will not tolerate any leniency."

Prince Zheng Guohui's tone grew increasingly stern. Baron Dong Baoshan, the deputy general manager, felt sweat drip down his forehead. His face turned pale under the reprimand. He replied respectfully, "I acknowledge my guilt and will do my utmost to achieve results and live up to Your Majesty's high expectations."

"It's good to know the pressure. Being on the front lines of factories and mines like these requires perseverance and determination. You must not be complacent and stop striving for progress. You must remember this."

"Your Majesty, I am grateful for your guidance."

After giving some instructions, King Zheng Guohui of Chu and the ministers who accompanied him on the inspection got into the carriages. With the royal cavalry leading the way and escorting them, the convoy sped towards the city of Batangas.

Deputy General Manager Dong Baoshan then stood up and touched his back, which was already soaked with sweat.

General Manager Fang Weishan, who was standing next to him, opened his mouth and then closed it again.

He had experienced this kind of treatment several times, and he was really nervous and cautious, walking on thin ice. In front of His Majesty's wise eyes, any little thoughts were exposed.

How can you grow quickly without going through some thinking?
The Iron and Steel Research Institute that Your Majesty mentioned is a research institute established within the Batangas Steel Plant. It has a small courtyard that serves as a separate office space.

There are more than 20 white experts and some young Chinese students who specialize in improving steel technology and are responsible for the design and application of domestic iron-making blast furnaces.

Previously, some technical improvement plans have been submitted.

Deputy General Manager Dong Baoshan didn't take it seriously, thinking that the factory just needed to maintain stable production. Why was he always coming up with all sorts of new gadgets and tricks? What if something went wrong?

Now that he had been given a wake-up call and severely reprimanded by His Majesty, Deputy General Manager Dong Baoshan was truly regretting it.

If we want to regain the trust of His Majesty, it seems... the root lies in the Iron and Steel Research Institute. We must attach great importance to technological innovation and make solid achievements.

The blast furnace ironmaking technology of the Batangas Steel Plant originated from the Bessemer process from North America. This is an acidic bottom-blown converter steelmaking process invented by the British Bessemer in 1856. It was widely promoted and applied during the American Civil War, greatly increasing steel production in the North.

Each existing blast furnace can produce 40 tons of iron per day, which is about the average level.

The Bessemer process is not perfect and there are many things to complain about.

There is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of quality and output. The key lies in whether the factory's top management attaches importance to it and supports it.

After this incident

Deputy General Manager Dong Baoshan was like a wake-up call, and seemed like a completely different person.

Dong Baoshan moved his luggage directly into the Iron and Steel Research Institute, which he had not taken seriously before. He hung out with those white engineers every day, studying ways to improve technology and production.

Soon thereafter, the improved steam blower fan was put into use, increasing the daily output of the blast furnace from 40 tons to 52 tons. The quality of iron and copper smelting was improved, and the economic benefits were extremely obvious.

A series of bold technological innovations were subsequently applied in the Batangas Steel Plant, achieving remarkable progress from the coking workshop to the material turning table, from the blast furnace to the continuous rolling and casting equipment.

Dong Baoshan tasted the sweetness and became more and more obsessed with technological innovation, but that’s another story.

(End of this chapter)