Chapter 2442

"Mr. Tao, the mining area is ahead!"

In fact, without Chen Yixin's reminder, Tao Donglai had already seen several tall chimneys standing in the distance, which should be furnaces used for smelting ore.

The mining activities of Fushan Copper Mine have been going on for several years, and now there are supporting smelters near the mining area, allowing the output to evolve from copper ore to copper ingots. Although it is expensive to build smelting facilities in Fushan County,

This also greatly improves the utilization efficiency of maritime transport capacity, which is definitely a good deal in the long run.

After passing an armed checkpoint, Tao Donglai and his party arrived at the smelter located on the outskirts of the mining area. Although the Fushan Mining Area is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry in terms of establishment, due to the actual local situation, daily operations and security work are actually

It is directly managed by the military. Considering the current actual situation in Fushan County, additional troops have been deployed around the mining area to keep out the refugees who enter the local area.

At present, most of the business institutions in Fushan County have gone out of business, but the production activities in the mining area have not stopped due to the refugee flow. After all, the output here is directly related to the production arrangements of Tiandu Industrial Zone thousands of miles away, which is very important to Haihan.

The process of industrialization will also have many impacts, and we will never enter a state of suspension of work and production unless it is absolutely necessary.

At this time, there was also a bustling production scene in the smelting plant. Workers were using trolleys to put the ore, limestone and other fluxes obtained after crushing the ore, as well as coke, charcoal and other fuels into the closed blast furnace. Chen Yixin introduced these

The raw materials will be added later

Smelting is carried out at high temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius. In this process, most of the impurity elements such as sulfur, arsenic and antimony in the ore can be removed to produce matte with lower copper content. The matte can then be smelted using charcoal roasting.

, you can get the blister copper used for casting copper ingots.

"However, if these blister coppers are to be used to process some relatively precise industrial parts, they will need to be transported back to Sanya for further processing and purification. The smelting facilities here are not complete enough, so we can only complete the process of smelting blister copper. See

After this refugee wave is over, can you contact the Ministry of Industry to arrange technical upgrades?" Chen Yixin accompanied Tao Dong to visit the production site and explained the local production conditions to him.

Tao Donglai was playing with a thick copper bar sample in his hand. In fact, just from the perspective of look and feel, the quality of this thick copper is the same as that of ordinary copper products. The quality of locally produced copper ingots is not the same.

Not low. Nowadays, the production capacity of Fushan Copper Mine is stable, and the income gained from it has also provided ample funds for the continuous improvement of production facilities here. Chen Yixin hopes to upgrade the local production technology after the refugee wave, and there should be no funding.

of difficulties.

Adjacent to the smelting plant is the ore crushing plant. There are two steam ore crushers produced in Sanya, which are used to crush the ore into ore that is easy to smelt. This mechanical device has been used in the Shilu mining area for many years and has been running for a long time.

The reliability is high enough

, it is also easy to maintain, and the processing efficiency is hundreds of times faster than human labor. Although it is expensive, for a place like a mine where production capacity is directly proportional to income, as long as the production efficiency can be greatly improved, even if it costs more

It doesn't matter on production equipment either.

And these two crushers are not the only steam-powered equipment in the local area. The process of transporting ore from the mine to here is to use small steam locomotives running on the track to act as traction power. Such a rail transportation system is very important in the sea.

Mines under Han rule were not uncommon, and the technology was also relatively mature. However, the entire transportation system here, including the rails, was packaged and shipped from the south, and its construction cost was much higher than that of the mines in the south.

Of course, this is the same as the ore crusher. High investment results in high efficiency and high returns. The ore hauled in one trip is equivalent to the carrying capacity of a hundred carriages, which is far beyond the level of this era and fully sufficient.

It proves what it means to have money and get things done easily. As long as there are sufficient funds, even overseas mines far away from the mainland of Haihan will not be inferior to local mines with more convenient conditions in terms of construction level and production capacity.

Going deep into the mine, the huge hole that appears on the ground is a vein that is currently being mined. Most of the veins in the Fushan Copper Mine are on the surface, so mining is not difficult. Just open-pit excavation is enough.

However, there are many armed men acting as guards near the mine, which also shows that the atmosphere here is somewhat unusual.

"Recently, a lot of people have been arrested due to the refugee flow, and most of those who are not worthy of death have been sent here to mine. So we have specially sent some extra manpower to keep a close eye on this place to avoid trouble." Chen Yixin said lightly.

Explained the reason for the tight security here.

It is one of Haihan's traditions to send criminals to work as coolies in closed places such as mines. Such cheap labor is not in vain for Haihan, and it only needs to provide these people with the most basic living conditions.

Just fine, the cost of use is very low.

The only troublesome thing is that most of these people have committed minor or serious crimes, and their reliability is very low. In addition, they hold various metal tools during their labor, so they must be carefully monitored by more people.

Although this will inevitably occupy a large amount of manpower of the military, this measure must not be omitted. Once careless, the prisoner riot that occurred in the Shilu Mining Area may be repeated.

"There are currently more than 1,300 miners here, half of whom are torture prisoners, and the proportion may continue to increase. After all, affected by these free labor forces, the miners' remuneration is getting lower and lower, and many miners have switched to other jobs.

They have gone to other professions. However, the overall number of miners is still increasing. There are always some people who don't like to live a stable life, and they have to work in a place like this to be honest."

As he spoke, Chen Yixin raised his hand and pointed to somewhere at the bottom of the pit: "Those people digging rocks at the bottom are generally serious criminals who have been sentenced to more than three years. They don't have much chance of getting out of here alive."

Chen Yixin would not be kind to these tortured prisoners. Most of those who entered Fushan County as refugees and dared to openly commit crimes were not good deeds, and most of the crimes they committed were mainly violent crimes such as robbing other people's property.

Even if these people are sent overseas for resettlement, they will most likely become a security risk. It is better to intercept them here and let these people slowly be rehabilitated in local mines.

Given the high-intensity labor and subsistence living conditions endured by torture prisoners, not many people could survive three years. Even if they could barely survive, their bodies would have been overdrawn and it would be difficult to recover.

At the level of a normal person, the possibility of continuing to do evil after leaving will be much lower.

Tao Donglai said: "You have kept this place in order. It seems that you have been trained in the army!"

Chen Yixin smiled and said: "Mr. Tao, managing a mine is much easier than leading troops to fight. There are templates that can be copied for every matter. Once the production process is determined, there will be no major changes, so we just follow the ready-made plan.

It's like the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. Every decision made and an order issued may involve the lives of thousands of people. It's very stressful!"

Tao Donglai continued to ask: "Then do you think you are more suitable to lead troops in the army or manage local affairs?"

Chen Yixin thought for a moment before responding: "Now I should be more accustomed to being a soldier. Maybe when the north becomes peaceful in the future, I will use more energy to manage local affairs."

Chen Yixin has established a relatively solid foundation in Shandong and Liaodong, and is also very familiar with the situation in Northeast Asia. A senior official like him who understands local government affairs and can lead troops to fight is not very popular within Haihan.

If he were to be in charge of the various northern colonial areas in the future, he would undoubtedly be a very reasonable candidate.

The question raised by Tao Donglai was also a test of Chen Yixin's attitude. If Chen Yixin himself was willing to take the initiative to stay in the north for development, it would of course be a more ideal situation. Based on the situation that has been seen so far, Chen Yixin's attitude towards Fushan County

The governance effect is quite good. In this extraordinary period, after hosting tens of thousands of refugees, it can still maintain the normal operation of local institutions. This in itself is an excellent reflection of the governance ability. If someone else sat in this position, he may not be able to

Same great performance.

However, the international situation in the north is still unclear, and it is too early to talk about future work arrangements. At least we have to wait for the preliminary results of the multinational meeting hosted by Tao Donglai before we can make any arrangements, so he did not discuss this topic at the moment.

Have an in-depth discussion with Chen Yixin and continue to understand the production situation of the mine.

Tao Donglai spent more time in the mine than the time he spent visiting the refugee camp the day before. During this period, there were several minor conflicts with torture prisoners in the mining area, but they were quickly quelled by the guards' whips and sticks.

The visit did not interfere with Tao Donglai's visit. Tao Donglai learned in detail about the entire production process from exploring the veins to casting copper ingots, and what technical support the local area still needs to further expand production capacity and improve the quality of copper production.

Two days later, Tao Donglai received news from Jinzhou that Wang Tom had arrived there together with North Korean minister Kim Sang-hyun. North Korea's attitude towards this meeting was obviously much more positive than that of Ming Dynasty. Li Xie learned that a comprehensive

After the ceasefire, he did not hesitate to send Kim Sang-heon as his country's representative to participate in this consultation. If it were not for the principle of reciprocity of levels, perhaps he would prefer to attend this meeting in person in Jinzhou.

The Manchu and Qing Dynasties are undoubtedly ready for negotiations. Even if they are not willing to accept the participation of the Ming Dynasty and North Korea, they have also informed the Jinzhou authorities that King Zhishun Shang Kexi will participate in this meeting on behalf of the Qing Dynasty. Although

The Manchu and Qing Dynasties did not change the candidates, but Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom, who were in Jinzhou, both believed that Shang Kexi was not worthy enough. There might be important figures in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties hiding in secret to make decisions on the direction of this negotiation.

And now only the Ming family has not made a clear response. In view of Ming's past attitude towards peace talks, Tao Donglai and others are not optimistic about the final result, at least they will not attend this consultation in the name of armistice and peace talks.

Activity.

For the Ming Dynasty, Haihan and Manchu were just small neighboring countries that had only begun to gain power in recent years, while North Korea had been a vassal state of the Central Plains Dynasty for the past few hundred years, and its status was even less worth mentioning. Now we have to follow

These small and small countries are treated as equals, and their faces may even be judged at the negotiation table. This is indeed a reality that is difficult to accept for the Ming Dynasty, which has always regarded itself as a sovereign country.

In view of Ming's silent attitude so far, Tao Donglai also had to study how to conduct this multi-country consultation in Ming's absence.

If the Ming Dynasty does not send people to attend, then Haihan's plan to take this opportunity to make the Ming Dynasty bow to him will basically come to nothing, and the negotiations with the Manchu and Qing Dynasties will also lack a very important condition. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties will

Becoming the party that benefits from this, Haihan can no longer play the seesaw game in the middle, and the focus of negotiations will return to bilateral relations. The situation will be much simpler for the Manchus and Qing Dynasties.

As for North Korea, it basically just plays a role of cheering for Haihan. Whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they will not take North Korea's opinions to heart under normal circumstances. Rather than being a participant, they are more like a party controlled by the other three parties in turn.

A chess piece. North Korea is so actively involved that it may be somewhat worried that it will be used as a deal condition by the other three countries without knowing it.

But for the Ming Dynasty, not attending seemed to save its face, but it would put itself in a passive situation. Now the Manchu and Haihan countries are stronger than the Ming Dynasty in terms of local military strength. Although Haihan's attitude

They tend to favor the Ming Dynasty, but they are not monolithic. The confrontation in Liaodong lasted for several years. Both sides invested a large amount of troops, military expenditures and materials, but it failed to change the existing regional situation. However, once the two countries ceased war, it would mean

If the Manchu and Qing dynasties were finally able to free their hands, the Ming Dynasty would definitely be the first to be unlucky.

If the Ming Dynasty attended, they could naturally try to persuade Haihan to continue to send troops to Liaodong, hold back the Qing troops, and share part of the military pressure for themselves. But if they choose not to attend, it would be equivalent to automatically giving up such an opportunity, which is incredible.

It became an opportunity for the Qing army to march southward.

But Tao Donglai couldn't tell these truths to Ming Dynasty's senior officials, and even if he told them, they might not be able to listen. He could only hope that Chongzhen and his ministers would not be too confused and give up in order to save face.

A chance to survive.

No matter what the Ming Dynasty's final attitude was, Haihan still had to start talks with the Qing Dynasty. Seeing that the agreed time was getting closer, Tao Donglai no longer wanted to stay in Fushan County and wait for the news, so he decided to go to Liaodong first to meet with Qian Tian

Dun met with Wang Tom to discuss some of the next strategies. Regarding the future direction of the situation in Liaodong, it is definitely not enough to listen to Chen Yixin's opinions. The opinions of these two senior generals are also very important to the Executive Committee.
Chapter completed!