Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant is one of the key projects of the five-year plan of East China Group, in fact, the construction has begun before the five-year plan is determined, in the plan of the traverser, it will be iron-making, steel-making, casting components, steel plates, steel, steel is equal to one of the large-scale modern iron and steel enterprises. At present, Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant has completed a 300m³ blast furnace, which can tap 50-60 tons of iron at a time, as well as 1 50-ton acid and alkaline open-hearth furnace.

All the equipment and machinery of the iron and steel plant were purchased from Germany, and some of them were deducted from the German army's ransom fee, and the construction was also completed under the guidance of German experts, and according to the agreement between the East China government and Germany, Germany will also assist the East China government to build a blast furnace of the same specification, and a 50-ton acid and alkaline converter, and provide corresponding technical equipment.

In this era, ironmaking was mainly made with blast furnaces, a technique that remained unchanged until the time of the traverser, and steelmaking technology was divided into open-hearth steelmaking and converter steelmaking, which were divided into acidic and alkaline steelmaking.

Technically, converter steelmaking tapping speed is fast, but for raw materials, Because of its high requirements for the quality of pig iron, and the speed of open-hearth steelmaking is slow, the requirements for raw materials are not high, and a large number of scrap steel, pig iron and scrap steel ratio for steelmaking, so in the old time and space after the 20s of the 20th century, due to social development, a large number of scrap steel appeared in various countries, so open-hearth steelmaking became the mainstream, to the 50s, 85% of the steel is produced by the open-hearth steelmaking method, until the pure oxygen top blowing converter steelmaking method appeared, the open-hearth steelmaking method was gradually eliminated.

Now the traverser adopts the mode of combining open-hearth and converter technology, because from the current point of view, the converter steelmaking is fast due to the fast tapping speed, and the traverser has no scrap steel, so there is still considerable room for development, but open-hearth steelmaking is the mainstream of development in the next few decades, and the quality of China's iron ore is not too high, and it cannot be given up, and it is a combination of acid and alkali furnaces.

Although before the construction of the iron and steel plant, there are also traversers who suggest that it is better to directly use the pure oxygen top blowing converter steelmaking technology in one step, and even some people propose to simply use the electric furnace steelmaking method, but the process technology of this era cannot meet the requirements of pure oxygen top blowing converter steelmaking, not to mention the electric furnace steelmaking method, not to mention other processes, that is, the need for electric energy is almost an astronomical amount in this era.

In fact, Qingdao is not a good place to build a steel plant, because there is no iron ore or coal mine near Qingdao, and the only advantage is shipping, so the iron ore used in the steel plant is purchased from Daye Iron Mine, and the coal is transported from Tianjin Kaiping Coal Mine.

In the old time and space, Shandong's iron and steel production is mainly concentrated in Jinan, Laiwu, Zibo area, here is the main coal, iron ore concentration area in Shandong, coal widely has Jinan Xilu Coal Mine, Zhangqiu Puji Coal Mine, Zibo Wangzhuang Coal Mine, Laiwu Slope, Zhaili Coal Mine, etc., iron ore has Jinan Zhangmatun Iron Mine, Zibo Jinling Iron Mine, Zhaokou Iron Mine, Laiwu Mazhuang Iron Mine, etc.

The Jiaoji Railway planned by Germany leads to this area, which is to take a fancy to the coal and iron resources in this area. It's just that the traverser has not yet effectively controlled this area, so they can only build a steel plant in Qingdao first to solve the problem, and at the same time to accumulate technology. After the East China government has formed effective control over Jinan, Laiwu and Zibo regions, and the Jiaoji Railway has been completed and opened to traffic, it will consider building a larger-scale steel plant in this area, which cannot be regarded as a duplicate investment, after all, the East China government wants to develop and establish an industrial system, and it is far from enough to build a steel plant.

Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant's No. 1 blast furnace and No. 1 and No. 2 open hearth furnaces have been built more than 10 days ago, and began to start the first ironmaking, of course, this ironmaking is still a test run nature, so the feeding is only 50% of the normal amount. Just two days ago, the German engineer Sieger determined that the molten iron could be baked this morning, and two open-hearth furnaces were started for trials.

Although it is only a test run, but after all, it is the first official iron production of the East China government, which also means that the steel plant can be officially put into operation, and its symbolic significance is very significant, so the East China government also decided to hold a grand celebration ceremony, the main leaders are to attend, and it happens that Zhan Tianyou is also visiting Qingdao at this time, so he also came to witness this historic moment.

Of course, Zhan Tianyou does not understand iron-smelting and steel-making technology, but he also knows that steel technology is one of the important symbols of modern industrial society, just like railways, and steel technology and railways are closely related, because the construction of railways requires a lot of steel, so it is the progress of steel technology that determines the development of railway technology, and after the railway is built, the cost of transportation is greatly increased, which in turn promotes the development of steel.

Although Zhan Tianyou built several railways in China, the tracks used were purchased from foreign countries, and China was able to produce a small number of rails only after the Hanyang Iron Works was completed and put into operation. Although Zhan Tianyou only uses the rails, and does not care where the rails come from, in his heart, he still hopes that the railway he built will use domestic rails as much as possible.

In the morning, Zhan Tianyou, accompanied by Yang Yuxin, came to the No. 1 blast furnace of Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant. Of course, the blast furnace ironmaking equipment is not only a blast furnace, but a complete set of system equipment, including blast furnace, hot blast furnace, pulverized coal bunker, injection station, batching room, feeding conveyor or feeding conveyor belt, track, hot metal tanker or hot iron tank, etc., not counting the supporting steelmaking production workshop or casting workshop, this whole set of system covers an area of more than 1,000 square meters. On the left side of this system equipment, the construction of another system equipment is also underway side by side.

At this time, the top of the towering blast furnace was still spewing thick black smoke, and except for the hot blast stove, which continued to blow hot air into the blast furnace, the other equipment had stopped working, and more than 10 workers wearing hard hats gathered in front of the blast furnace, including 2 or 3 foreigners, outside the safety line, there were already workers from the steel plant, and police officers who were maintaining order at the scene. About 200 meters to the right of the blast furnace, a rostrum has been erected, and several rows of chairs are placed in front of the stage, with nearly 200 seats, and Zhan Tianyou and Yang Yuxin are arranged to sit in the first row. The students who came with them also came to the scene and sat down in the back row, because it was a great opportunity for these students to show off the industrialization of the East China government.

After a short time, Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng and other leaders sat on the stage, and the audience was already full of people, Xu Haoyang, director of Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant, first gave a welcome speech on the rostrum, and talked about the construction and development planning of the iron and steel plant. After the completion of 2 blast furnaces, 2 open-hearth furnaces and 2 converters assisted by the German side, two more blast furnaces and 2 open-hearth furnaces of the same grade will continue to be built as the first production area. The entire project was expected to be completed in 1905, with an annual output of more than 100,000 tons of steel.

At this time, Hanyang Iron Works had only three 248 m³ blast furnaces, two open-hearth furnaces and two converters, with an annual output of about 60,000 tons of steel. Although the first blast furnace of the Yawata Iron Works in Japan began operation on November 18, 1901, the door of the molten iron furnace could not be opened during the discharge of molten iron, and the molten iron could not flow out, resulting in a failure, and it was not until July 1904 that the first blast furnace after the renovation was successfully reopened. Therefore, after the completion of the construction of the first production area, Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant will surpass Hanyang Iron Plant and become the largest steel plant in Asia.

In addition, the Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant will also carry out the construction of the second production area, and will build four more blast furnaces of 500 m³, two 100-ton open-hearth furnaces, and two 100-ton converters, which will be completed in 1910, and the expected goal is to triple the production capacity to reach the level of 300,000 tons of steel per year.

Xu Haoyang's speech also won bursts of applause, and at this moment, the German engineer Zieger came to the rostrum from the blast furnace and told Xu Haoyang that the furnace could be opened. So Xu Haoyang hurriedly got down from the rostrum, put on a hard hat, and rushed to the No. 1 blast furnace with Ziger.

At this time, everyone on the rostrum and under the stage stood up, all looked in the direction of the No. 1 blast furnace, just waiting for the furnace to be opened to produce molten iron, but due to the failure of the Japanese Yawata Iron and Steel Works, and the Yawata Iron Works was to import a full set of equipment and technology from Germany, so at this time everyone's hearts were also suspended, I don't know if the Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant will repeat the mistakes.

At this time, the most nervous was Xu Haoyang, the director of Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant, who was not a professional in steelmaking, and his understanding of steelmaking technology was only limited to a relevant record in the [Encyclopedia of Crossing Technology] provided by a certain crossing enthusiast, and some other technical articles about steelmaking and ironmaking. Of course, there are no people who understand steelmaking among the traversers, and Xu Haoyang can be the director of Qingdao Iron and Steel Plant, mainly because of the management model he proposed, and he can only rely on the engineers and technicians sent by Germany in terms of technology. But if the furnace fails, it will undoubtedly leave a mark on his resume. Therefore, at this time, Xu Haoyang stood in front of the No. 1 blast furnace where the heat wave was rolling, and his right hand holding the starting flag couldn't help but tremble.

Ziger understood his psychology, and said in a firm tone: "Mr. Factory Director, please give an order, I can guarantee that there will be no problem." ”

Xu Haoyang looked at this old German man who was a little blessed, and knew that he could only be trusted at this time, so he gritted his teeth, raised the sheep with the starting flag high, waved it down vigorously, and said loudly: "Open the furnace." ”

The workers in charge of opening the furnace had already been in place, and after hearing Xu Haoyang's order, they immediately pulled their hinges together and shouted in unison: "Open the furnace door." ”

I saw the furnace door open, and with a large amount of white steam, a stream of bright red molten iron flowed out of the furnace door, poured into the sink, and flowed all the way to the steelmaking workshop.

At this time, next to the No. 1 blast furnace, there was a burst of cheers to celebrate the success of the furnace, and many people threw hats, towels and other items into the sky. On the rostrum, there was also a burst of warm applause, and even Zhan Tianyou was infected by this atmosphere and slapped excitedly.