C3655 (1/2)
That sound was really loud! It was so shocking that even the cement ground beneath his feet started to shake. The loyal guards and the New Imperial Army s immediately rushed forward to protect Tongzhi.
Zhou Mingkui was so scared that his face turned pale white, and he immediately jumped up, ”It's not an assassin … It's not an assassin … It's Steel plant's thousand-ton hydraulic press! ”
”It's the sound of a hammer striking, not an assassin, really not an assassin …”
The alarm had been lifted, and all welcome officials of the Tanggu District, whether they were from the Great Qing or a member of the Chinese race, had proven to Tongzhi that this was not an assassination attempt, this was the Steel plant forging rough steel.
Weng Tonghe said angrily. ”This is simply outrageous! With the His Majesty here, why didn't they stop production? Is there anything more important in this world? ”
”Zhou Mingkui! Aren't you afraid that the court will punish you? ”
Looking at Weng Tonghe's clamor, the officials welcoming him all scoffed at him. They thought to themselves, just where did this Old Dong Hong come from?
Zhou Mingkui sighed as he cupped his hands towards Weng Tonghe and said, ”Master, it's not that I didn't coordinate with District, it's not that District didn't want to give workers a holiday, it's just too bad!”
”Why?” The Prince Chun asked.
No one would have thought that at this time, Emperor Tongzhi would open his mouth and say, ”In this Tanggu City, how many families are there? What is the capacity for one year? ”
”To reply your majesty, there are a total of six Steel plant s in this Tanggu. Their total annual production capacity is over 10,000 tons of steel and over 25,000 tons of iron!”
”No wonder!” Tongzhi nodded his head, ”Although its scale is not comparable to Prussia or the English and French, it can still be considered a large scale industrial zone in Russia or other European countries!”
Zai Chun smiled and said to Weng Tonghe and the other five Uncle Wang. ”This modern industrial steel refinement is only for the use of blast furnaces, not the Great Qing's earth furnace!”
”The cost of investing in a blast furnace is 100,000 silver taels, and this type of blast furnace cannot be extinguished. It must continue to produce steel for 24 hours a day!”
”Huh?” The officials of the Qing Dynasty who were present were all stunned, ”We can't extinguish the fire, we need to continue refining steel? Wasn't this person tired to death? ”The furnace can't take it either …”
Zai Chun had visited the British and Prussian industrial areas before, so he had some basic knowledge of the place.
”The workers will not die of exhaustion, they can be divided into three groups! As for the furnace, it was made of refractory materials! ”The iron ore was thrown into the blast furnace together with the coke. After the high-temperature combustion, the iron ore turned into molten steel …”
”Just think about it, this liquid steel can naturally flow, but at one o'clock, you put out the fire. Did the dirty liquid steel get stuck in the inner wall of the furnace?”
”This is a big problem, the cooled molten steel will become a layer of solid iron shell. The next time you open the furnace, you'll have to manually clean this layer of iron shell …”
”It's too easy and time-consuming. The cost of cleaning up is probably enough for you to build another blast furnace four or five times!”
”Therefore, in the modern iron smelting industry, the blast furnaces never stopped burning. Furnace after furnace, they continued to burn until the furnaces were completely destroyed!”
”My dear sirs, now you know why westernization is able to pave the way with iron, right? I can't even imagine how much steel they have produced! ”
”The blast furnace can't be listened to. If we have to stop the iron mill to welcome us, then the losses will be too great …”
There were a few technical officials from the Industrial Zones among the welcoming party. When they heard Zai Chun's explanation, they were stunned, no one thought that the Qing Dynasty's Emperor would actually be able to explain the basic concept of the furnace, it was truly an anomaly!