Chapter 1284 Visiting Shilu Iron Mine

Liu Shang was so heartbroken by Zhang Qianzhi's smile that he didn't know how to respond. Suddenly, several long whistles were heard from the forest in the distance, and then the locomotive of the train they were riding on also sounded rhythmically.

The whistle sounded in response. After a moment, everyone felt the ground beneath their feet trembling slightly. A train loaded with ores and logs came rushing from the west, passing the train parked on the side road, roaring towards Changhua Port.

Went.

The two trains use the whistle signal as a means of communication to prevent the train leaving Changhua from having any trouble while traveling and failing to enter the branch road in time to get out of the main track. If the situation is abnormal, then the train leaving from Shilu

It will stop in time to eliminate possible hidden dangers ahead. Although the method is simple, the effect is very ideal. In the few years since this railway line was opened, although there have been unexpected situations where the train fell down due to malfunction while running.

, but there has never been an accident when the train deviates from the track and the train misses the train on the way. Every morning and evening, the train misses the train, and this is done day after day, year after year.

However, after the whistle blew, Liu Shang's embarrassing situation was relieved. After the train coming from the opposite direction passed, someone called everyone to get on the train and set off, allowing Liu Shang to finally get rid of Zhang Qianzhi's "entanglement" naturally.

Along the way, Liu Shang felt that he was well treated in terms of food, accommodation, and transportation. It was Zhang Qianzhi's existence that kept him on pins and needles. He always felt that the other person was like a poisonous snake, silently walking around him, and he might not know when he would be killed.

He would suddenly bite him. But in the position and environment he was in now, and he had no way to actively avoid the other person's presence, it was really uncomfortable.

However, after Zhang Qianzhi returned to the car, he seemed to have ignored his presence. He calmly sat back next to Yu Xiaobao and continued to chat and laugh with Qiao Zhiya. Liu Shang saw that Zhang Qianzhi's attention was no longer on him.

, then he breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, the train had only reached nearly half of its journey. In the next hour, the train continued to travel through the vast forest. Just seeing the dense virgin forest outside the window, Liu Shang could roughly imagine that the Han people originally built the sea here.

How difficult it is to have a railway that can carry trains, and the Shilu Iron Mine, which is located deep in the mountains, is said to have a population of several thousand, and its supplies basically rely on this railway. Only Haihan would be so seemingly crazy.

It's arranged.

Among Yu Xiaobao's group, many of them, like Liu Shang, came to Shilu for the first time. They were also amazed by the natural scenery along the way. They were able to drive quickly in the virgin forest.

Only in this world can you enjoy such adventures. The Sanya Railway was also opened in the forest. Now the woods on both sides of the road have been cleared for the construction of various industrial facilities along the railway. Further afield

The place has also been developed into various farms, and such natural scenery has long been gone.

"Ahead is the first and only cross-river railway bridge built in our country, the Changjiang Bridge." Following Qiao Zhiya's introduction, the train has quickly sailed onto the Changjiang Bridge. However, the span of this railway bridge is not large.

Including the approach bridge, it is only about 100 meters long. The middle piers are built on the stone beach in the center of the river. The height from the bridge deck to the water is only four or five meters. The construction difficulty is actually not that great. But at present,

In this era, being able to build a bridge capable of carrying railway transportation in such an environment is already considered a feat in bridge engineering.

However, at the speed of the train, it only took a short moment to pass the railway bridge. Before Liu Shang even had time to stand up and look around, he saw the Changjiang River passing under his feet. As for this bridge that was occupied by Qiao Zhiya

I couldn't even see what the railway bridge that was shown off looked like. Liu Shang sighed secretly and sat back on the chair.

After crossing the railway bridge, the train began to slow down slowly. After traveling for four or five miles, you could see the station in front of you through the window. A tall iron frame spanned the railway.

There are two very eye-catching characters "Shilu" on it, indicating that this is the destination of everyone's trip.

After Liu Shang got off the bus, he noticed that the platform here seemed to be larger than that of Changhua Railway Station. The area where ores and logs were stacked took up almost 90% of the entire platform, leaving only a three-foot-wide road.

It is used by a few passengers to enter and exit. Outside the platform, you can see a small freight train that is only one-third the size of the train you are riding, transporting carloads of ore from the distant hillside.

This sight made Liu Shang refresh his concept of steam locomotives again. Only then did he realize that this thing can not only be used for long-distance transportation, but can also be used to improve transportation efficiency even for such short distances. This one is one size smaller.

The railway required to build a freight train is obviously much narrower and the rails are much thinner. The construction cost and construction period will naturally be much shorter than that of a regular railway. Even if Liu Shang regards Haihan as his opponent in his heart, but

I also have to admire the other party's ingenuity in improving production capacity, which is indeed beyond the Ming Dynasty.

After everyone got off the car, they headed towards the West Mine on the nearby hillside under the leadership of Qiao Zhiya. Although it looked close, it took a long walk to reach the place with a stick of incense.

What appeared in front of everyone was an oval mine pit about one mile long and half a mile wide. A passage more than one foot wide extended downward along the pit wall in a zigzag pattern, and was at least a dozen feet deep at the bottom.

Hundreds of miners work at various mining points in this large pit. They use hammers, shovels, chisels, shovels and other tools to mine the ore, load it into buckets laid on the pit wall, and then transport it from the high ground outside the pit.

A steam winch here rolls a steel cable to pull the ore up from the pit.

Liu Shang understood at a glance from a high place that this ore transportation system was a three-dimensional version of a mini train. However, this small train did not have a front head. Instead, it used a high-altitude steam winch to control the body of the ore by pulling a steel cable.

It moves back and forth on the track. In fact, some mines in the Ming Dynasty also have devices like this, but they usually use animal power or even human power to push the winch to pull the bucket of the ore. The efficiency is definitely not comparable to that of the tireless Haihan people.

of steam engines.

"It can be used like this!" Liu Shang suddenly felt a little enlightened. It seemed that any work that required great strength could be done by using this steam engine. It was nothing more than outputting the huge force it produced in different ways.

That’s it. Of course, this is simple to say, but the specific implementation requires very professional knowledge and skills. At least Liu Shang was unable to design a machine that can operate smoothly and achieve these purposes. This matter is very surprising when you think about it carefully.

People are frustrated, even if they understand the principle of its operation, it is still difficult to imitate it.

There are as many as ten steam winches like this deployed around the mine. Next to each one are piles of coal, a water tanker to replenish water for the boiler, and several operators. The truck bucket is constantly moving up and down the pit wall.

, I don’t know how much ore will be transported from the mine at the end of the day. Liu Shang only looked at it for a moment and knew that the mining efficiency here would be difficult to catch up with even the Daming Mine.

Liu Shang secretly sighed, knowing that this gap is not limited to this place. The mine is the source of smelting steel. Haihan takes the lead step by step. With the amazing mining speed here, many people in Changhua County must have

The smelting workshop will not be idle either. No wonder Haihan spared no effort to transport coal across the sea and built dozens of miles of railways to transport ore out of the mountains, all in order to increase steel production. These links are closely linked.

, every link is operating at high speed and developing continuously. It is no wonder that Haihanneng has risen rapidly in the South China Sea in just a few years.

As for why Haihan needed so much steel, Liu Shang thought he already knew something about it. Haihan promoted the application of steam engines, and his army was equipped with a large number of sharp guns. Legend has it that Haihan also had the secret technique of building giant steel ships, so

The amount of steel needed must be astronomical. Only by building a town like Changhua that specializes in smelting can resources be concentrated to produce enough steel.

Although Liu Shang's idea is a bit one-sided, it is basically true. However, Haihan's application of steel is not limited to manufacturing steam engines and various weapons. In the process of promoting industrialization, there are too many places where steel and other metals need to be used.

. However, most of these applications are concentrated in Tiandu Industrial Zone and are not open to the outside world. Liu Shang has not been in Sanya for a long time. With his current status, he naturally has no access to the actual situation in the industrial zone.

Qiao Zhiya gave everyone a general introduction to the production arrangements of the West Mine and the production status this year. Liu Shang is not that sensitive to the concept of numbers. After listening to it, it is difficult to imagine what the level of mining work here is. His attention

I was already attracted by the noise coming from the other side of the mine.

The sound coming from behind the slope in the distance was louder than the movement of a steam engine. Liu Shang couldn't help but wonder what kind of mechanical monster was hidden there that could make such a loud noise.

His curiosity was quickly satisfied. Qiao Zhiya introduced the local production conditions while taking them to the place. Only then did Liu Shang see the thing making a huge noise. It turned out to be a machine used to crush ore.

Large machinery. After the ore mined from the mine is pulled up through the bucket, it is dumped directly into this machine, and then the large pieces of ore are pressed into smaller pieces by steel cams to facilitate subsequent loading.

.After the ore is crushed, it is poured directly from the discharge port into a conveyor trough laid on the hillside, and gravity is used to allow it to naturally slide to the yard at the foot of the mountain, where it is then loaded onto a small train and transported to Shilu Railway Station.

There were only two or three workers operating the steam engine during the entire processing process, and the efficiency was probably better than the work of dozens of people. Although Liu Shang was not surprised by the use of steam engines, he understood the principle and function of this thing.

After that, he couldn't help but be impressed by the ingenuity of Haihan people again. Haihan could always use steam engines in the most appropriate places to replace manpower to do clumsy work. This has become another reason for Liu Shang to be impressed.

"There are four ore crushers like this in the west pit and six in the east pit..." Qiao Zhiya's introduction made Liu Shang secretly swallow his saliva. He thought that this thing was just this one, but he still underestimated it greatly.

Haihan's strength. As for Qiao Zhiya's next introduction about how many tons of ore this thing could process per day, Liu Shang had a hard time having a clear idea of ​​this, so he automatically ignored it.

Based on what Liu Shang saw during his visit here, the mining efficiency of these thousand miners plus various steam machinery is at least equivalent to that of three to four thousand people working by hand. Haihan's operation method here is completely

Beyond ordinary people’s imagination, it’s no wonder they are unwilling to open this area to the outside world.

However, Liu Shang suddenly thought of a question. Since Haihan is so good at using steam machinery, why not just build a few mining machines to replace the relatively inefficient human mining?

As soon as he thought of this, someone had already raised this question for him. Then he heard Yu Xiaobao ask Qiao Zhiya: "I heard that the Ministry of Industry has been developing steam-powered excavators in the past few years. I wonder what the progress is now?"

Qiao Zhiya responded with a smile: "This thing is actually not technically difficult. The Ministry of Industry has produced the drawings a long time ago, but Tian Du's manufacturing progress cannot keep up. The things have been shipped here some time ago and are being assembled and debugged here.

It has been working on for more than half a month, and now it has been put into trial. I will take you to see it later."

Yu Xiaobao asked understandingly: "Are you trying it out in the mine over there at the hard labor camp?"

Qiao Zhiya nodded and said: "The new thing has many unstable aspects, and the operator is not particularly skilled. If used here, it will affect the normal mining work. Besides, for safety reasons, it is also tried there.

It’s relatively safe.”

With the technology Haihan has mastered, it is not difficult to design a steam-powered excavator. However, after the prototype is built, it must be tried in the mine, and then improvements and adjustments can be made based on the actual use effect before the final design can be finalized.

Mass production version. In order to prevent this thing from injuring others due to mistakes during operation, Qiao Zhiya decided to put it in the East Mine where hard labor prisoners served as laborers. Moreover, the local hard labor prisoners were all serious criminals with longer sentences, so there was no need for it.

I am worried that this thing will be leaked in the short term.

Liu Shang was very curious after hearing this conversation and wanted to see how the steam excavator worked. However, it was almost noon, so Qiao Zhiya suggested having lunch first and then visiting the East Mine in the afternoon. Yu Xiao

Bao and others were not in a hurry to begin with, so they naturally obeyed Qiao Zhiya's arrangements. So a group of people returned to the foot of the mountain first, accompanied by several cadres from the mine, and went to eat in the employee canteen of a nearby mine.
Chapter completed!