On the edge of the Luanhe River in Luanzhou, Yongping Prefecture, Zhili, next to the No. 1 iron-making blast furnace of the newly built Zhili Iron Plant, Zeng Yuheng, Minister of Public Works of the Chinese Empire, Tan Tingxiang, Governor of Zhili, Hong Guan, Governor of Yongping Prefecture, and the Director of the Public Works Department of Zhili, the prefects and county magistrates of Zhili all gathered together to witness the commissioning of the largest new iron plant in Zhili!

In addition to these officials, officials and technical engineers from the Ministry of Public Works, the Public Works Department, and local public works bureaus came to the blast furnace site to watch this exciting moment.

Zeng Yuheng, as the Minister of Public Works, although he was born as a talent in the mountains of Guangxi, has now experienced the establishment and operation of countless steel plants in the Holy Kingdom and the Empire, and has become an expert, and has figured out the way to this blast furnace ironmaking. As early as a few years ago, he realized that iron and steel production was of great significance to the construction of the imperial industrial system, so he specially organized technical engineers from Prussia and other Western countries to compile tutorials and standards for blast furnace ironmaking. Moreover, because this blast furnace ironmaking is the most traditional way of smelting iron ore into molten iron, it is not afraid of being stolen by foreign countries or other forces, and almost everyone understands it, and the core of it is just to change the previous coal to coke, and the cold wind to hot wind, but these are all technologies imported from the West, therefore, this specific tutorial is written clearly, and it is not afraid of losing it at all.

At this moment, when the furnace cavity was opened, it was scorching from a long distance, and through the observation hole, Tan Tingxiang led Zeng Yuheng and others like a treasure to see the molten iron in the blast furnace.

Several iron-making craftsmen wearing protective clothing and hats held long steel drills in front of the furnace from time to time to pluck the molten iron, and the furnace cavity was red and bright, and the boiling molten iron was churning inside.

Zeng Yuheng glanced at it, and there was a burst of scorching heat in front of him, he hurriedly avoided it, and everyone else also learned from him to avoid it at a glance, without any protection, although it was far away, it was still a little unbearable for the heat wave to hit people.

However, after a while, Zeng Yuheng had already seen the general situation in the furnace. This blast furnace is about hundreds of cubic meters, and the daily output should be very considerable, but there are 2 such blast furnaces, although they are one size smaller, but this Zhili Iron Works can quickly build three blast furnaces in a short time, which is also very remarkable.

Thinking of this, Zeng Yuheng said to Tan Tingxiang beside him: "Lord Tan, what is the volume of this blast furnace and how much is the designed output?" ”

Tan Tingxiang seems to really know a little about ironmaking, as the governor of a province, he is not only responsible for industrial matters, as a large province in the north, Zhili has a large population, and agriculture, education, transportation and other aspects are also the focus, but at this moment, Tan Tingxiang did not let others explain, but replied in person: "Lord Huibutang, fortunately, I did my homework in advance, and I still know about this Zhili Iron Factory." This is the No. 1 blast furnace of the Zhili Iron Works, and it is also the largest, and there are two other blast furnaces, both of which are slightly smaller. This No. 1 blast furnace has a capacity of 248 cubic meters and is designed to produce 100 tons of molten iron per day. The No. 2 and No. 3 blast furnaces both have a volume of 180 cubic meters and are designed to produce 70 tons of molten iron per day. Combined, the design daily output of the entire three blast furnaces is 240 tons, and if the annual output is calculated according to 250 days, it is 60,000 tons of pig iron production. ”

Hearing this, Zeng Yuheng gasped! At that time, the engineers of the Ministry of Public Works reported to the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Works that the iron plant in Luanzhou, which was directly under the central government, was in excellent condition and could build the largest iron-making plant in the north, and then, with the continued development in the future, on the basis of this iron plant, it could also develop into the largest iron and steel industrial base in the north, providing steel and other raw materials for Tianjin, an important town in the north, and the Dengzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, the four major shipbuilding bureaus of the empire.

And these are just plans. Unexpectedly, the Zhili Iron Factory, which Tan Tingxiang built casually in order to make some meritorious achievements, turned out to be such a scale.

"Lord Tan and all the adults of Yongping Mansion in Zhili, you have worked hard! The Imperial Court will not forget your efforts for the development of the steel industry throughout the Empire! Zeng Yuheng couldn't help but be moved to encourage a few words, these beautiful words made Tan Tingxiang and all the other officials directly under the government, especially Hong Guan, the governor of Yongping Mansion, and Pei Yinggeng, the governor of Luanzhou, blushing and excited, and the eyes of other officials from all over the country were envious, which also made Pei Yinggeng and the officials of the public works department proud.

"Lord Zeng, let's get out of the molten iron first, and verify the approximate output of this furnace of molten iron." Tan Tingxiang proposed.

"Yes, yes, come out of the molten iron first, Zeng Mou can't wait to see the most sensational event in Zhili Province!" Zeng Yuheng exclaimed: "This is an iron factory with an annual output of 60,000 tons!" Great, Lord Tan is so effective in implementing the decisions of the imperial court, he will definitely be rewarded by His Majesty and the imperial court! By the way, I've heard that the newly discovered iron ore here has been mined, and the reserves are huge, right? ”

Tan Tingxiang was a little proud, and said, "Yes, Lord Zeng." To tell you the truth, our mineral industry will usher in great development! Coal mines and iron mines alone, it has been found in many places, only in the territory of Luanzhou, there are a lot of iron mines and coal mines, the reason why this Zhili Iron Plant was built here is because of the newly discovered Tangjiazhuang coal mine next to the Luanhe River some time ago and the Sijiaying iron mine not far from here.

Sijiaying iron ore is divided into north and south mining areas, according to the exploration results of your ministry and the Zhili Public Works Department, conservatively estimated, the southern area of the resource reserves of more than 200 million tons, the north of the iron ore reserves of more than 150 million tons, this is still the result of preliminary exploration, next, we may organize the Zhili Public Works Department in this area, and even the entire Yongping Province in the suspected iron ore area, further detailed exploration, will be the reserves will be thoroughly proven!

The Yanshan iron ore in the north mining area is buried very shallowly, just on the surface, it can be directly mined in the open pit, and the taste is not low, so some time ago we organized a large number of miners to mine, and the situation is very gratifying! About 1,100 tons of refined iron ore of about 60% can be mined every day, and 70,000 tons of selected iron ore have been hoarded for more than 2 months, and it is expected that the annual output of selected iron ore of the same quality will exceed 300,000 tons!

Lord Zeng, the iron ore smelted in this blast furnace today is provided by the iron ore mined and hoarded by the Yanshan Iron Mine in the upper reaches of the Luanhe River, and is transported directly down to the wharf of the Zhili Iron Works every day by a cargo ship specializing in transporting iron ore, and then organized to transport labor and livestock to the blast furnace, although it is a bit laborious, but compared with other ironworks in Zhili, it is relatively convenient to transport. ”

"So much of it?" Zeng Yuheng couldn't help but be moved!

According to the data obtained by the Ministry of Public Works, the largest iron ore reserves in the entire empire today are a large iron ore area called Ma'anshan in Dangtu County, Taiping Province, which is also a large iron ore mine discovered by the Mineral Resources Department of the Ministry of Public Works in that area in accordance with His Majesty's will, and the reserves are quite amazing, reaching nearly 200 million tons. However, it was still a large mining area, and the reserves of more than a dozen mines combined, some of which were not too easy to mine with today's manual level, so the Ministry of Public Works also specially organized machine factories around the country to develop and develop large mining machines driven by steam engines specially used for mining and breaking ground, so as to help develop minerals.

Unexpectedly, in this remote place in the north, the iron ore reserves are amazingly large.

Zeng Yuheng couldn't help but glance at Tan Tingxiang, and seeing that the latter was expressionless, he couldn't help but think to himself, it stands to reason that such a large mineral reserve must have been reported to himself and the Ministry of Public Works, how could it be that it has been mined but has not been reported? Could it be that Tan Tingxiang has figured out the next big move of the imperial court, to vigorously develop the steel industry, and then deliberately suppressed it, just waiting for His Majesty and the cabinet to throw out the steel development plan, and then throw out this bombshell, so that His Majesty and the court are shocked by the industrial achievements he has made in Zhili?