I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 20 The Skeleton of Industry

In the darkness of night, the still chilly spring breeze stirred the newly sprouting green branches, causing them to sway from side to side.

The deep sky was cloudless, and the Milky Way seemed like countless diamonds inlaid on a large piece of black jade, sparkling with their light.

In Chen Changzai's cave dwelling, the kerosene lamp was still burning.

Looking at her reflection in the window, Wang Ling shook her head, gently pushed open the door of the cave dwelling, and stepped inside.

"Brother Changzai, it's late, you should get some rest too."

"You sleep so late every day and get up so early in the morning, how can your body handle it?"

"Oh, Wang Ling is here. Why aren't you asleep yet?"

I'm fine, I'm used to it. Besides, I'm still young, and I'm not staying up all night, so it's okay.

But you, as a girl, should definitely get more sleep and avoid staying up late.

Chen Changzai put down his pen, which was still drawing, and looked at Wang Ling with a smile.

Seeing that the water on Chen Chang's table had gone cold, Wang Ling took the water out and poured it back into the water vat. She then poured him a bowl of hot water from the kettle that was warming on the stove in the outer room and brought it over.

It was placed on the small table next to the workbench.

She knew that Chen Changzai's drawing workbench was not to be used for anything other than drawing paper and pencils.

Especially water; if water spills on the drawings, then the drawings are ruined.

After putting down the bowl of water, Wang Ling said, "Have some hot water, Brother Changzai. I was actually about to go to sleep, but I came over to check on you since your light was still on."

I'm going back to sleep right away.

"Okay, then you should go to sleep quickly. You have to work tomorrow too. I'll go to sleep after I finish this."

"Okay, then remember to go to bed early, don't stay up too late. I'm going to sleep now."

Watching Wang Ling walk out with a smile, Chen Changzai also smiled.

The two didn't say much, but their feelings for each other were very genuine.

Wang Ling lived in the cave dwelling next to Chen Changzai's.

This large courtyard has five cave dwellings, and there are two sentries guarding the gate. Chen Changzai is not worried about Wang Ling's safety at night.

Hearing Wang Ling close the door, Chen Changzai picked up the hot water Wang Ling had poured, took a sip, and felt his body warm up instantly.

He put down the bowl of water, turned around, and continued drawing.

Industry is a systematic system; it cannot be solved by the appearance of one or two mechanical devices.

Now, in Wujiabao, it is possible to produce steam engines, machine tools, and diesel engines.

But this is actually just a rudimentary method of hand-rubbing.

We are still a long way from true industrialization.

We've only just begun to open the eyes of industrialization.

However, once we open our eyes to industrialization, the world will definitely become different.

What is the skeleton of industrialization?
Steel, steel, and more steel.

There is no industrialization without steel.

Now, within the area controlled by all the troops, including Wujiabao, many small blast furnaces and steelmaking pits have been built.

However, this simple method of iron smelting and steelmaking would have been remarkable in ancient times.

However, when facing modern industry, its problems of low output, low quality, and high energy consumption are unavoidable for anyone.

Therefore, in order to solve this problem, it is essential to build a basic, truly semi-automated small blast furnace and steel plant.

Wujiabao now has a certain foundation.

This meant that Chen Changzai no longer felt the same way he did at the beginning, when he was struggling financially.

We were truly destitute back then; we had nothing.

Now we have steam engines as the primary power source and diesel engines as the secondary power source.

Therefore, building a blast furnace that produces 300 tons of pig iron per day is already feasible.

This type of blast furnace would be considered an obsolete small blast furnace in later generations, but at this time, it is definitely considered high-end.

In this lousy country that's already been turned into a complete mess, there's now a steel plant that produces the most iron daily.

However, it was the Showa Steel Works built on the northeastern land occupied by the Japanese.

This steel plant produces more than 1,300 tons of pig iron and more than 600 tons of steel per day.

This Showa Steel Works was the predecessor of Ansteel.

Every time Chen Changzai thought about these things, he would give that Xiao Liuzi hiding in Xi'an a good scolding.

This playboy, WBD, has brought disaster to the country and its people, branding the people of Northeast China with an indelible stain of shame.

But insults won't kill someone; if you want revenge, you have to fight with real weapons. Chen Changzai's current task is to find a way to increase steel production.

On the ironclad front, one must first establish an invincible position.

The blast furnace he is designing now, although it is not an advanced blast furnace of later generations, is at most at the level of the 1950s and 1960s.

But such a blast furnace is something he can truly realize now.

He wouldn't even dare to dream of blast furnaces as advanced as those in steel mills of later generations.

But without steel, how can we make the industrial framework stronger?

That kind of steel industry is calcium deficient.

Later steel mills have come up with all sorts of ingenious methods for smelting various types of steel.

However, Chen Changzai can't come up with any new tricks now.

He would be perfectly content if he could just recreate the outdated air-blown converter from his factory in his previous life.

As for the oxygen top-blown converter.

Let's wait and see.

He couldn't produce the oxygen needed to smelt a single batch of steel in that top-blown oxygen converter under the current conditions, even in six months.

A small, three-ton converter, to produce one batch of steel, requires 1,300 standard bottles of oxygen for blowing.

If they were to do that now, it would be the death of Chen Changzai.

The so-called converter is actually a large iron drum that can be poured into one side.

You can imagine a cone-shaped iron bucket with two trunnions on the left and right, so that the bucket can rotate left and right to pour out the molten iron inside.

Oxygen top blowing involves inserting a tube into the molten iron in a bucket and blowing oxygen into it.

Oxygen is used to help the molten iron burn, and impurities in the molten iron are removed again.

Side-blowing air means that the pipe that blows air into the molten iron is not on top, but rather several air-blowing pipes are arranged around the side circumference.

Blow bubbles at an angle into the molten iron to help it ignite.

Why not use a top-blowing air vent?
The main problem is that there are many impurities in the air, such as nitrogen.

Top blowing results in slow impurity removal, which lowers the furnace temperature and affects quality, while side blowing is much better.

However, it is still much worse than oxygen blowing from above.

Moreover, there are no other heat sources in converter steelmaking; the molten steel itself is the only heat source and fuel for the converter.

Of course, the more oxygen there is, the better the quality of the steel.

However, building such a small steel plant is not an easy task.

Take that blast furnace for example.

The diameter of its furnace base alone reached nine meters.

The furnace waist is also eight meters long.

The feed throat is five meters long.

The entire blast furnace is nearly thirty meters high.

In addition, there are the feeding railcars, the feeding bell, the top seal, the flue, the ground molten iron discharge layout, and the rails connecting to the steelmaking converter.

The layout of the steelmaking room, from ventilation to feeding, discharging, and slag removal.

And whether the arrangement of the power sources will interfere with each other.

Every aspect and every place must be taken into consideration.

Any oversight in any area could potentially create a safety hazard.

All of this must be reflected in the design drawings.

Chen Changzai scratched his head, thinking seriously as he drew the steel plant in his mind onto a blueprint.

Before we knew it, it was already dawn.

When Wang Ling carefully pushed open Chen Changzai's door and went into the inner room...

What she saw was Chen Changzai, who was already lying on the workbench, snoring softly.

The cotton coat he was wearing had fallen to the ground, but he was completely unaware of it.

Upon seeing Chen Changzai's appearance, Wang Ling's eyes reddened, and tears streamed down her face.

However, she didn't dare to make a sound. She simply picked up the cotton coat and gently draped it over Chen Changzai's shoulders.

Then, relight the stove pit in the outer room, which had already gone out, to heat up the kang (heated brick bed).

This way, the cave dwelling can be warmer.

(End of this chapter)