Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 91 Turning the Mundane into the Extraordinary, Turning Enemies into Friends

The two engineers, Rosilin and Herius, followed Lelouch back to the occupation headquarters and sat down in the office to talk for a long time.

This confirmed that Lelouch was indeed a big shot in the occupying forces, and that he really did have some technical skills, vision, courage, and financial resources.

Such an all-around benefactor is truly a gift from heaven.

After a day of consultation and discussion, Rossellin and Herius finally made up their minds to leave Krupp and work for Lelouch. Although the "new electric arc furnace steel plant" that Lelouch described was now just a few empty factory buildings (which were bought cheaply or even confiscated from the Franks).

Since they were going to work for a new boss, they had to show some skills. After discussing it, the two of them gave Lelouch a firm guarantee: they would further research a "three-phase electric furnace" based on the existing "single-phase electric furnace." They had actually been thinking about and secretly experimenting with this for the past few years.

However, they were afraid of infringing on the Franks' patents, and also afraid that if they created it, it would be useless and would instead leak secrets, so they didn't complete the final step.

As long as Lelouch provides sufficient support, ample experimental funding, a well-equipped laboratory, and a supporting factory, they are confident that they can make up for the last few technical shortcomings and develop a production-ready solution within a month, after which they can build an electric arc furnace steel plant.

However, the specific production equipment will still need to be customized from our old employer, Krupp, so we can't afford to offend anyone.

Lelouch believed in the two men's abilities and was convinced that the "three-phase electric arc furnace" could be realized in the short term—because historically, right after World War I ended and the Frankish invention patent expired in 1920, these two men immediately produced the three-phase furnace technology and applied for a patent. This suggests that they might have already almost finished developing it and were simply waiting for their competitor's technology to expire.

Therefore, Lelouch displayed extraordinary magnanimity, just like Liu Bei and Cao Cao, who "trusted those they employed."

He assured him that there were absolutely no problems with the laboratory and funding, and that there was no need to worry about the relationship with Krupp. He was very familiar with Mr. Gustav, and they had previously cooperated well on the railway artillery project. Gustav wouldn't offend him, a major financial backer of the military.

Moreover, Lelouch comforted Rossellin and Herius, saying that even Mr. Gustav could not predict the true potential of the "three-phase electric arc furnace steelmaking method" or what problems it could solve, so he would not regard the new factory as a competitor.

Krupp produces steel in large quantities using traditional steelmaking methods, with an annual output of tens of millions of tons. They simply look down on Lelouch's small-scale operation of producing 5 to 10 tons of steel annually.

With this clear division of labor, Lelouch used the engineers he recruited from Krupp, along with their unique supporting resources, to quickly start a new operation and produce a small quantity of high-end steel.

Krupp, on the other hand, continues to produce a large amount of traditional steel, with its supply chain divided into high and low segments, allowing it to exchange goods and services and make money through division of labor.

In this world today, only Lelouch has the vision to know how much market application potential high-end electric arc furnace steel has in the future—the current battleship gun barrels are generally limited to a caliber of 380 mm.

Steel produced by open-hearth furnace is inferior to that produced by electric furnace in terms of impurity removal and uniform crystallization.

If the barrel wall becomes thicker, the poor uniformity of the distribution of added elements such as nickel, chromium, and molybdenum in open-hearth steel, as well as the uneven internal stress, will lead to potential quality problems in the barrel.

Therefore, in Earth's history, it wasn't until 1920, when Rossilin and Helius broke through the three-phase electric arc furnace technology, raising the production capacity and quality of electric arc furnace steel to a new level, that the three major naval powers of the time quickly began to equip their "BIG 7" battleships with 406mm main guns. The Colorado-class and Nelson-class battleships used 406mm main guns, while the Nagato-class battleships used 410mm main guns.

These new battleship main guns, as well as the larger guns of the future, can only be manufactured using steel produced in a three-phase electric arc furnace.

With this technology, the main guns of battleships could be upgraded from those of "pre-World War I battleships" to those of "interwar battleships" (of course, other metal processing and heat treatment technologies also need to be upgraded, not just the materials themselves).

Once Lelouch has mastered the production of high-quality steel for the three-phase electric arc furnace, he can then give it to Krupp for testing. Krupp will then come knocking on Lelouch's door, begging for cooperation.

At that time, both sides will get what they need: Lelouch will provide Krupp with high-quality gun barrel steel, and Krupp will provide Lelouch with other supporting technologies, establishing the technical team and machining and manufacturing capabilities needed to develop tanks and other new mechanized equipment, and making progress together.

Anyway, building tanks won't make a difference in a month or two. Let's just consider it a good start to sharpen our tools before we start chopping wood. Let's first lay a good foundation for the industrial base that Lelouch can control.

……

After finalizing the plan to build a three-phase electric arc furnace steel plant, Lelouch spent a few more days gathering the necessary instruments and equipment for experiments and trial production on-site, attempting to set up the framework of the laboratory.

If something is missing, buy it if you can afford it; if someone refuses to sell, confiscate their property. Fortunately, Dunkirk already had a certain industrial base. There was a small steel mill, a power plant, and machine processing and repair shops, all of which were supporting the port.

Now that Lelouch has become the temporary head of the occupying forces, what's wrong with forcing a sale? He can't act recklessly within Demania, but it's much easier in the occupied territories, where he can even coordinate some resources from the neighboring Birygins.

The prototype experiment also required a considerable amount of electricity, so Lelouch directly instructed his men to manage the power supply to Dunkirk. He also instructed the surrounding cities to take turns cutting off power, without any hesitation.

The impact of starting an electric arc furnace on the power grid load is enormous. Having a boss who controls the power supply department's switches makes things much easier.

The initial framework of the laboratory was quickly established, and the work of Rosilin and others progressed smoothly.

Three days later, on the last day of February, Rosilin also submitted two documents to Lelouch.

One document is a list of equipment and custom-made parts required for the formal trial production of a three-phase electric arc furnace. All of these items need to be ordered from Krupp, and we need to find a way to spend money to order them.

The second document was an "Energy Consumption Assessment Report on Steelmaking Using Shipbuilding Scrap Steel as Raw Material and a Three-Phase Electric Arc Furnace," calculated by Rossellin according to Lelouch's requirements.

The report also provides a detailed assessment of the economics of three-phase electric arc furnace steelmaking.

The report mentioned that before the outbreak of war, without considering wartime inflation, the production cost of open-hearth steel was approximately 600-700 marks per ton, with an average price of about 650 marks.

At that time, the cost of single-phase electric arc furnace steel was as high as 4000 marks, which was six times that of open-hearth furnace steel.

Therefore, even though single-phase electric arc steel has a slight quality advantage, almost no one produces it. It's simply too expensive and a bad deal; that slight quality improvement isn't enough to make users pay for a six-fold cost difference in peacetime.

However, according to the three-phase electric arc furnace designed by Rossilin et al., it is expected that the production cost can be reduced to 1500 marks per ton, and the quality of the steel produced will also be better.

While 1500 is still much more expensive than 650, it's at least much cheaper than 4000. Furthermore, the wartime demand for high-quality steel is extremely strong, and people are willing to spend more money for quality, making this business somewhat promising.

Rosilin further calculated that if steelmaking did not start from iron ore but directly from shipbuilding scrap steel with little alloy impurities, the energy consumption of the three-phase electric arc furnace could be reduced by more than half.

Previously, it was estimated that refining steel from iron ore in an electric arc furnace required 20 GJ of energy per ton of steel. However, by using shipbuilding scrap steel as raw material for refining, the energy consumption per ton of steel can be reduced to 6-8 GJ.

Of course, electricity costs are only a large part of the cost of electric arc furnace steelmaking, but not the whole story. The total cost also needs to include the cost of raw materials and equipment losses, personnel wages, and other miscellaneous expenses.

But for Lelouch, he could save most of the money on raw materials, because his shipbuilding scrap steel was directly salvaged from the nearby "Ironbottom Beach," where hundreds of thousands of tons of steel could be salvaged from stranded and sunken ships. Ultimately, he expected to reduce the cost of three-phase electric arc furnace steel to 900-1000 marks per ton (saving 500 marks in electricity costs), which was not far from the 650 mark cost of open-hearth furnace steel.

His steel is of high quality and can be used to make cannon barrels, giving him a significant competitive advantage.

With such detailed data, Lelouch's confidence in increasing his investment grew even stronger.

He invested several million marks, placed various orders, and even called Mr. Gustav to explain that he wanted to order and customize some equipment, and that he could pay in full in cash.

Gustav asked him roughly what he was planning to do, and Lelouch picked out some things he could talk about and told him everything without completely hiding anything.

Upon learning that Lelouch was pondering the matter of electric arc furnace steel, Gustav very gentlemanly remarked:

"Then I wish you all the best, and I hope we can cooperate happily in more fields in the future. As for the electric arc furnace steel market, Krupp is not interested in it."

However, if you can indeed produce electric arc furnace steel with significantly improved quality, please let me know as soon as possible. Our artillery R&D department will be interested in testing it. If it performs well, we will place a large order to build cannons for the Empire.

Lelouch also sincerely flattered Gustav on the phone: "Mr. Gustav is truly a man of great ambition. He can let others handle tens of thousands of tons of high-quality steel a year. What a bold move! Don't worry, once I've actually refined good steel, the first thing I'll think of is providing you with gun barrel steel."

Gustav didn't say anything more, but calmly and politely said goodbye and hung up the phone.

With an annual steel production capacity of ten million tons, Krupp certainly wouldn't risk offending the Grand Duke of Baden and Crown Prince Baria, who are close confidants of the Crown Prince, for the sake of a few tens of thousands of tons of high-grade steel.

……

After finalizing the research and development of three-phase electric arc furnace steel and the layout of the plant, all Lelouch needed to do was wait for Rossilin and his team to gradually produce results before proceeding to the next step.

He calculated the schedule and realized that his rest and recuperation leave would end at the end of April at the latest. Before the beginning of May, he had to arrive with his troops in the Hungarian theater of operations on the Eastern Front.

With just over fifty days left, I should probably take some time to go back to China, look for talent in the industry, fill in any gaps in my plans, and maybe even go back to Oreo to bring back my sister, brother-in-law, and younger sister—the only remaining relatives of the original owner of this body.

Anyway, the trial production of electric arc furnace steel will take another month. We can use this month to get all the personnel matters sorted out. Maybe after going around in circles, we'll have found the right management talent for the steel plant.

Lelouch is a man of action, so he immediately planned out his schedule and decided to go back in two days.

Before leaving, he wanted to make one last visit to the field hospital to see the latest feedback on the efficacy of sulfonamide drugs after their large-scale deployment.

Faben Chemicals' new drug has only been on the market for a little over ten days, and new situations may arise every day, so we cannot be careless at this time.

On March 2nd, Lelouch visited all the major trauma hospitals in Dunkirk again.

The wounded soldiers were in much better condition than when he arrived a few days earlier, and there were fewer beds available in the hospital. Of the hospital that originally housed more than a thousand people, at least three or four hundred infected wounded soldiers had been discharged, leaving fewer than a thousand patients, which greatly reduced the pressure on nursing staff.

There, Lelouch unsurprisingly encountered Duchess Anhalt and Charlotte Lorinta again, but they only exchanged polite nods and no further conversation.

To his slight surprise, just as he was about to leave the hospital, a Mercedes-Benz suddenly stopped in front of the hospital.

A young guard officer stepped out of the car first; it was Joachim, whom he had seen several times before. Joachim was in the passenger seat. As soon as he got out, he opened the back door, and then an elderly man with a composed demeanor stepped out of the car. He was Archduke Mark von Baden, the Minister of Prisoner of War Affairs.

"Your Highness, what a coincidence! I never expected to see you here." Since they had bumped into each other, Lelouch naturally had to go up and greet him.

Grand Duke Baden seized the opportunity to grasp his hand and squeeze it firmly: "I came all the way back from Berlin to see if there are any good resettlement plans for the hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war here. Don't think it's a coincidence; I heard you came to the wounded soldiers' hospital again today, so I came to wait for you."

Lelouch gave an awkward smile: "If you need anything, just give me a call and I'll come over. There's no need for you to come in person."

Without waiting for a reply, the Archduke of Baden pulled him back to the hospital, saying as they walked, "I remember very clearly that the month before last, when the battle was only halfway through, you talked to me about the prisoner-of-war issue on the train back to Frankfurt."

Back then you said, "Human empathy is universal; people of all races can be educated. Even prisoners of war from the Burkina Faso might genuinely serve the empire in the future"—those are your exact words, and I remember every single one of them.

Now that the battle is finally over, it's time for you to fulfill your promise. Tell me, is there any way to persuade these Burkina Faso prisoners of war to genuinely serve the Empire? It's not just about eating and doing manual labor in the POW camp; I want the prisoners to do much more.

Lelouch also remembered that he had indeed made a boast on the train and had repeatedly said that it would not be a problem. Now the minister had finally come to ask him to keep his promise.

"Of course I can do my best in this matter, and it will definitely have an effect, but I can't guarantee that everyone will listen."

"It's alright, even a little bit of effect will do. At least it will have some publicity value." The Grand Duke of Baden wasn't asking for much; he wanted to reassure Lelouch and also offered his own assessment.
"I actually have a rough idea of ​​what you're planning to do—are you planning to use the miraculous anti-infection drug you just invented to cure all the infected wounded soldiers in Britannia, and then use the Empire's sincerity to win them over?"

As the Grand Duke spoke, he kept staring at Lelouch with a look of curiosity, eager for a definite answer.

However, he was soon disappointed.

It wasn't disappointment in Lelouch, but rather disappointment in his own intelligence and ability to guess.

Lelouch: "I'm sorry, this is indeed a small part of my plan, but only a small part. I have many other ways to persuade the Britannian prisoners of war to truly break away from their rulers."

Moreover, when the pill technology was still immature, I initially administered the medicine to captured wounded enemy soldiers simply to conduct more dangerous early clinical trials on the enemy, not out of pity—of course, we don't need to tell those who have already been saved the truth; let them continue to feel indebted.”

Grand Duke Baden was slightly taken aback: "Oh? I guessed wrong? Such a great favor was just for testing the medicine, and only a small part of your psychological warfare strategy?"
"Then I'm curious, what exactly are the remaining 'most' like? Do you have some free time lately? Could you give me some guidance on the persuasion and reformation work?"

Lelouch glanced at his watch subconsciously, even though there was no calendar on the dial.

Then he said thoughtfully, "Okay, but it will only take two or three days at most. I still need to go back to China to handle some military industry matters. But don't worry, two or three days is enough to see results. I'll go to the POW camp and the wounded soldiers' camp to give a mobilization speech in a little while, but I hope you can organize some cooperation."

Grand Duke Baden: "Absolutely. I'll wait and see what you're capable of turning enemies into your own."

(End of this chapter)