"Welcome Your Majesty to visit our factory!"

The director of the chrome mine in Harare personally greeted Konstantin with the leadership, and because of Konstantin's request, the chrome mine remained in operation and did not close down because of the king's arrival.

The black smoke and the passing of transport vehicles indicate the busyness of the factory on the outskirts of the city, where workers have been notified to work harder than usual.

In Konstantin's view, the scale of this factory is much smaller than that of a tobacco factory, which does not fit Konstantin's perception of industrial and mining enterprises.

So Konstantin asked Glenin, a high-ranking provincial official from Matabele, who was accompanying him: "Why is the tobacco factory so much larger than the chrome mine, and the same is true of the equipment?" ”

"Your Majesty, this is the reason for demand, the most valuable industry in our Matabele province is probably the tobacco industry, this does not refer to the scale, but the net profit, the entire Matabele province tobacco output value occupies about 30% of East Africa, this is not a small number, and there is growth potential, benefiting from the unique superior conditions of our province, this proportion may grow to more than 60% in the future."

Glenin continued: "The city of Harare, as the tobacco processing centre of Matabele province, has an important role to play, and our city supplies almost 46 percent of East African tobacco exports. ”

Konstantin seemed to understand and asked, "You mean the market determines the size of the tobacco factory in Harare City?" ”

"That's it, Your Majesty, only when there is demand can the scale of investment be determined, otherwise everything is just a castle in the air, and now the tobacco factory is under the jurisdiction of the industrial department, and we actually play more of a supervisory and auxiliary role."

Konstantin no longer struggled with this problem, but he felt that the scale of the chrome ore plant was still too small, so he mentioned: "What is the main application field of chrome ore now?" Why is it on my itinerary? Is this resource important? ”

It is nothing more than Konstantin will ask questions one after another, chromium was discovered in 1797, which is not much longer than Konstantin's age, and the application scenarios are not accessible to ordinary people.

Glening: "This question still needs to be answered by professionals, and we don't know, so Director Hearn, you should answer it, right?" ”

Herne, the director of the chrome ore factory, stepped forward and explained: "Your Majesty, the application of chromium is indeed not very common, it is generally used to produce chemical compounds, which is a bit high, and generally only professionals will come into contact with it, so it is normal for ordinary people not to hear of it, I can briefly talk about it."

It was first discovered by the French chemist Walkland in the red lead ore in Siberia, Russia, and later he used charcoal to reduce chromium anhydride for the first time to isolate chromium in the metal form, and chromite was discovered in the same year, and most of the chrome ore in our East Africa exists in the form of chromite, and is one of the superior resources of Harare City.

For example, the ore used to refine chromium in our factory mainly comes from a small mine in the southwest of the city, which is only a drop in the bucket for the chromite reserves of the entire Harare city, but it is enough for our production needs and use.

Of course, the most widely used in industry is tanning agents used in fur production, or to increase the hardness of alloys, and I have only heard of this aspect, and the specific research seems to be done by the Mbeya Metal Research Institute. ”

Konstantin was pleased with this explanation, because he probably knew it was important when he heard about the fur industry.

Fur is now an important material, in all fields, because there are not many alternatives, especially for the cold regions of Russia or Northern Europe.

The situation in East Africa is much better, because East Africa is located in the tropics, but the size of the fur industry in East Africa is not small, especially in the colonial era, fur exports are one of the important sources of income in East Africa, and ivory and other East African products have contributed to the development of East Africa in the early stage.

Now the wild animals in East Africa have been cleaned several times in East Africa, and have decreased a lot, but the corresponding East African animal husbandry has also developed, so the fur business is getting bigger and bigger, of course, the main highlight is the leather word, and the East African leather industry is developing very well.

Konstantin: "I just answered the first question, so why is it on my itinerary?" ”

Glening can answer this question, and this is what the director of the chrome ore plant Hearn does not understand: "Your Majesty, the industries you inspected are arranged according to the key projects and enterprises in our province, don't look at the scale of the chrome ore plant, but his rank is in the first echelon, the most important thing is that this plant has been specially mentioned by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." ”

Of course, Ernst has paid attention, after all, the chrome ore resources in East Africa are advantageous resources, so the layout in advance is also reasonable, but Ernst also has concerns, that is, the current "chrome plating" process has not yet appeared, or the electricity price in East Africa is not cheap, so there is no need to develop it in advance.

In addition, chrome ore smelting is already a highly polluting industry, so after considering many factors, ERNST does not plan to vigorously develop related industries.

Anyway, chromite is mainly distributed in East Africa, and it will not be able to run in the future, so as long as we continue to make breakthroughs in research, improve the efficiency of use, improve the production process, and solve the problem of pollution treatment, it is not too late to make plans.

Hearn also said: "The use of chromium in the industrial field is not wide at the moment, but with the advancement of the times and the knowledge of physics and chemistry, it may be able to stimulate a big effect in the future, and the city of Harare is just a temporary foothold for the industry to provide reference data, and we do have relevant needs." ”

"Alright! We visited the advanced factory, and we can know these professional problems in our hearts. Konstantin said.

Konstantin then began to focus on communicating with the grassroots workers in the factory to understand their living and working conditions.

Although Konstantin had been to the tobacco factory before, the work intensity of the tobacco factory was not high, so Konstantin did not pay much attention to this aspect.

"How much do you get paid a month?"

"Forty-five Rhein-guilders, but last month I got overtime bonuses, a total of forty-seven Rhein guilders."

"Is this enough money to make ends meet?"

"Of course, Your Majesty, there are currently five people in my family, my wife and I have three children, one is just six years old, one is four years old, and the other has just been born, and I don't eat much, and I have a lot of surplus every month."

"Six, that's going to school soon!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, according to the law, compulsory education at the age of seven is mandatory."

"And what do you think of compulsory education?"

"I'm quite satisfied, hasn't the government been propagandizing! Knowledge is power, I haven't read a book for a few years, but I think this sentence is very reasonable, at least it is useful to settle accounts, write letters, or read newspapers, and the school also manages a meal, which further reduces our burden. ”

"Well, reading is definitely good, just like our East Africa, many things need to be taught by people with knowledge, like the plant design, materials, machinery and equipment of your factory, are the crystallization of knowledge, and the development of industry in the future also needs more intellectuals to participate in the construction of the country."

Konstantin gossiped and communicated with the workers in the factory, greeting them with warmth, and was a model of benevolence, while the reporters of the official newspapers were also working hard to write and wait for the material to be recorded, and then spread it through the newspaper to create the image of the royal family's charity.

(End of chapter)