"The factory is lined with chimneys, and the factories are connected one after another...... It is really a symbol of China's rise! ”

Almost every Westerner who comes to Incheon will feel this way when they witness the construction of the Incheon Special Zone, and from the rapid changes in Incheon, people will feel the awakening of an ancient oriental country. Unlike the prosperity of Shanghai, Incheon's prosperity is built on industry.

In the 20-square-kilometer factory area, the horizon below the mountain is blocked by a large factory area, and the eyes are full of rows of workshops, which are extremely majestic. In particular, among the chimneys, there were several smoking, white, yellow, gray, and black; As they intertwine with each other, they spread out into the blue-gray sky, forming strange clouds that fill half the sky. Against the backdrop of such a vibrant background, the factories of different heights and shapes are extremely spectacular.

As soon as you enter the factory area, you will feel a bustle and noise that you have never felt anywhere else, with smoke of all colors mixed with hazy drizzle in the sky, covering the chimneys, workshops and factories, and trains full of ore and coal rumbling in from the port, and trains full of goods rumbling to the port, where thousands of laborers carry bags of goods onto hangers and load them onto ships.

As the largest steel plant in the Far East, Incheon Steel Plant is built on the waterfront, and the plant has its own wharf to unload iron ore and coking coal for production. Building a steel plant is not an easy task, first of all, the site must have abundant iron ore with high iron content, high-quality coal mines that can be smelted as coking coal, sufficient water sources and good transportation conditions.

And in addition to the traffic conditions near the sea. Incheon doesn't have any. There are no railways in its vicinity. There is no coking coal, and its iron ore comes from the Yinli iron ore mine in the north near Guangliang Bay, because North Korea does not have high-quality coking coal, so it can only buy it from the domestic Kailuan coal mine. Even fresh water needs to be brought into the factory from the Han River through a canal.

In any case, geographically it is not suitable for a steel plant, but now one of Asia's largest modern steel mills is a towering iron-making blast furnace on the shores of Incheon. With a series of workshops and a variety of equipment, the steel mill has been transformed into a large steel complex capable of producing thousands of steel products.

In the factory area, the trains transporting raw materials are roaring through the factory section like a race, and workers wearing wicker hats and helmets are erecting the No. 2 blast furnace, but the No. 1 blast furnace is just now. At this time, it has been put into production, emitting a scorching heat. There was always a faint smell of rotten eggs in the air, the smell of coke.

If you look at it from the mountain, you can see that the ironworks at this time are shrouded in a hazy cloud of smoke, if at night the fire gushing out of the towering iron-making blast furnace is enough to reflect half of the night sky, becoming a more dazzling storage than the lighthouse, and at this time the furnace fire has turned the entire factory into a fairyland on earth.

The fire in the blast furnace in the factory is burning, the smoke clouds at the mouth of the furnace cover the sky, although the red tong is high, it only makes people feel a burst of scorching heat, under the blast furnace, several furnace workers dance steel drills in front of the furnace, they ignore the rise in the furnace temperature, carefully observe the smelting of molten iron in the furnace, and take out the molten iron standard sample from time to time and send it to the laboratory for inspection; The laboratory technician in front of the furnace carefully does the chemical analysis of pig iron in front of the operating table, which provides a reliable basis for the adjustment operation in front of the furnace; The workers of the blower class will supply and withdraw air to the furnace at any time according to the temperature of the furnace; Electricians, welders, and fitters are busy running in front of the furnace, all making various preparations to ensure that the molten iron is foolproof.

All night, Tang Haoran stayed near this blast furnace, sleepy is not far away in the office to take a nap, although this blast furnace is purchased from the United Kingdom, but but borrowed from the transformation process of the small blast furnace, its output is several times higher than the design output, only this blast furnace can produce more than 100,000 tons of pig iron a year.

At the end of the 19th century, this was the age of steel, and as a metallurgical engineer, Tang Haoran naturally knew what the steel industry meant in this era, which meant the backbone of a country, and meant that cheap steel rails could be quickly laid on the construction site that had been waiting for the rails.

Because there is no technical relationship, almost all the technicians in the factory are hired from Yingde, who are responsible for inspecting the quality of the purchased ore, limestone and coke, and organizing the inspection system of products, parts and raw materials. At the same time, it also directs the production, and this furnace of pig iron is the first furnace of the No. 1 blast furnace of the Incheon Iron and Steel Plant.

"Tetsu!"

Finally, with Tang Haoran's order to "tap the iron", the workers immediately manipulated the steam-powered opening machine at that time to open the tap hole, and suddenly a large ball of fireworks-like sparks erupted from the furnace...... Under the orders of the public, the first molten iron smelted at the Incheon Iron and Steel Plant flowed out of the furnace.

Hundreds of tons of reddish molten iron were poured directly into the mixed iron furnace and mixed with the scrap iron in the furnace, watching the tram dragging the mixed iron furnace to the converter workshop, Tang Haoran couldn't help but have a kind of overlap of time and space, and couldn't help but think of the moment when he encountered the "meteor" in the steel mill at this time two years ago.

Tang Haoran didn't know what happened at that moment, but he knew his fate, and even the fate of this nation, it was from that moment that a fundamental change occurred.

"My lord, do you want to go to the converter workshop to have a look?"

Kuang Xianyu, who was very excited in his heart, looked at the trailer in the distance and said to the adults beside him.

"Huh? Converter workshop? Of course to go, to go......"

The tall converter workshop cast a large dark shadow on the ground, and from the gap between the furnace and the furnace, there was a flash of red light. Next to the converter workshop is the blower room, with a wide path in the middle. Tang Haoran and Kwong Xian were walking down this path, and their heads were full of thick pipes in the air; In these dark pipes, the roar of a powerful wind was rattled.

People have not yet arrived at the converter workshop, a roar of roaring sound has been heard, after entering the converter workshop, the heat wave on the face suddenly let the sweat flow out of Tang Haoran's body, in addition to the workers in front of the converter, there are two foreign technicians, they are recording something, and there are more than a dozen students from the Department of Engineering of the College of Liberal Arts, after nearly a year of study, they have begun to practice in the factory to master the basic metallurgical technology, and lay the foundation for studying abroad in the future.

The firepower of the steelmaking converter was so intense that the violet flame that could be seen from the mouth of the furnace made a sound like the roar of a prehistoric beast, gradually turning yellow and finally a beautiful white flame, all in a process that lasted only a few hours. The silvery-white molten steel that flows from the converter to the crossbar and then the reddish ingots are transported directly to the rolling mill by means of a conveyor and rolled into rails.

This is the introduction of American technology design of the "continuous" production line, but also the most advanced production process of this era, just like the introduction of the four-high reversible plate mill in the rolling workshop, once completed it will be the world's second similar steel plate mill, the United States technology and technology, is replacing the British technology in this plant, the most advanced technology of the era is being introduced into this steel.

"My lord, now we can produce 150 tonnes of 84 pound rails per day, and according to previous tests, the quality of our rails is much better than the best rails in Europe, and with fewer alloys, the cost is naturally lower......"

For the quality of the rails produced by himself, Tang Haoran does not doubt that although this ordinary low-alloy rail is even a substandard product according to the standards of later generations, in this era when carbon rails and manganese rails have just started, this kind of low-alloy steel rails can become the "fist product" of Incheon Iron and Steel Plant with its more excellent performance, and more importantly, its cost is very low, and the production cost is very low compared with the factories of the same era.

"What about the cost in the factory now?"

Despite the fact that the production cost of the Seoul Machinery Qì Ironmaking Plant was the front car, Tang Haoran couldn't help but ask about the production cost of the factory.

"My lord, the CIF price of iron ore is 1.34 yuan, the CIF price of coking coal is 8.4 yuan, the current labor cost per ton of production of the factory is 1.7 yuan, raw materials are 10.3 yuan, lime, anthracite powder and other 1.26 yuan, metallurgical patent fee is 2.1 yuan, and the total cost of target steelmaking is only 17 yuan. It is at least three yuan cheaper than the expected 20 yuan, compared with similar steel mills in Europe and the United States, our cost has been nearly doubled, and the current Shanghai Ocean Iron is 45 yuan per ton, so in this plan, if it is sold iron, the profit per ton should be between 20 and 30 yuan......"

Of course, such a large iron mill will not sell the cheapest pig iron, and the more profitable rails are the market that the company wants to occupy.

"My lord, now that the rail has been smelted, the factory is ready to entrust a trading company to talk about the rail with the Beiyang Yamen, my lord, do you think we should make a profit?"

Let?

With a slight jump in his brows, Tang Haoran shook his head, looked at the red steel rails that were more than ten meters long that were squeezed out of the rolling mill, and commanded Kuang Xianyu.

"There is no need to let it go, isn't there a stake in Beiyang in this factory? The price is based on similar products in Europe, plus freight, as for what price they offer to the yamen, we don't need to ask, as long as we keep twice the profit, you know, we can also refer to the Beiyang Yamen to help us build the road! ”

The so-called help in Tang Haoran's mouth refers to the fact that under the huge profits of the rails, the factory can take out this part of the profits and provide the North Korean Railway Company with steel rails in the form of loans, and the money to buy the rails is naturally taken by the Beiyang Yamen.

"Also, are the things I got ready for the factory?"

(Ask for a commuter pass!) The Empire's Sunrise Reader Exchange Group: 150536833 welcome to join) (to be continued......)