1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1949
The development time of Heitu Port was much earlier than that of Changhua, so in fact, the construction time of the rail transportation system here was also earlier than that of Changhua.However, in order to quickly and efficiently transport the ore from the inland mining area to the smelting area near the sea, Changhua had to build a huge freight railway. However, Heitu Port is not so troublesome, and the coal mining area is right next to the port area. Not far away, the unique natural conditions do not require the construction of large-scale freight railways, and the investment in transportation is much less than that of Changhua.

However, for a layman like Li Lu, it is difficult to fully understand Haihan's approach to infrastructure construction in a short period of time. We can only compare the differences between the visited industrial bases from a more intuitive perspective.

The economic benefits of Heitu Port are quite good now, and the urban area is no longer a building complex dominated by bamboo and wood shacks in the early years. Today, the miners’ buildings funded by the local government are all brick and stone structures, and the living facilities and supporting service agencies are also poor. It is more complete, and there are even basic education institutions specially set up here by Danzhou academies.In terms of the living conditions of the miners, it is even better than the Shilu mine on Hainan Island.Moreover, most of the miners in Heitu Port are immigrants from Annan and Guangxi. There is no such unstable factor as hard labor camps, and the hidden dangers in terms of public security are much smaller than those in the Shilu mine.

Xie Chun said that he wanted to eat casually, but he still set up two sumptuous banquets. One table was for Bai Kesi, Li Luo and his party, and the other table was for accompanying local officials and gentry celebrities.Li Wei took a look at the contents on the table, and thought that this was similar to the reception banquet organized by the Executive Committee in Sanya Victory Fort earlier.He found that the more polite these Haihan people speak, the more high-profile their actions tend to be.

During the meeting, Xie Chun took the initiative to introduce the local production situation to the North Koreans after receiving the instruction of Beks.The coal veins in Heitu Port are almost on the surface, so the mining method is also open-pit excavation, which is almost the same as Shilu Iron Mine, and because the coal in Heitu Port is of excellent quality, the mined coal can be directly used as fuel. Much simpler than iron ore.

With the coal production in Heitu Port becoming more formalized, Xie Chun is no longer satisfied with only using coal to make primary by-products such as coke and coal tar. Deep processing products with higher added value, such as methane, ethane, methanol, ethanol, etc.However, the number of professionals currently trained by Haihan in the chemical industry is quite limited, and most of them work in the Tiandu Industrial Zone in the interior of Sanya. The scarcity of talents prevents the implementation of Xie Chun's industrial upgrading plan.

This time, taking advantage of Bai Kesi also coming to Heitu Port, Xie Chun also intends to take this opportunity to mention the request for building a local chemical plant, although he also knows that the reason why the executive committee dragged this matter may not be to set up a project for Heitu Port. However, if this kind of long-term plan is not actively sought, it is not realistic to expect Victory Fort to take the initiative to hand over this benefit to Black Earth Port.After all, there are more and more overseas ruled areas, and each overseas enclave has its own construction plan. Funding is often not the main problem restricting the realization of these plans, but a serious lack of professionals including officials. To carry out industrial upgrading on the current basis, the problem we are facing now is the huge gap of chemical talents.

"Old Bai, you see that our chemical plant plans are self-prepared in terms of funds, and don't increase the burden on Sanya. As long as Sanya is willing to give others, it can be put into small-scale production within one or two years, and it can also make up for the land at that time. There is a gap in the production capacity of the independent chemical factory. Moreover, the chemical products we want to produce here use coal as raw material, and the cost is much lower than transporting coal to Sanya for production.

Xie Chun took advantage of the gap between the meetings and spared no effort to persuade Bai Kesi, hoping that he would express his support for Heitu Port's plan to develop the chemical industry.

Bai Kesi replied: "The executive committee supports the chemical industry construction plan of Heitu Port, but when it comes to talent supply, it is still powerless for the time being! What I can give you now is that Heitu Port will be a priority for development in the future. Candidate areas for the chemical industry will be inclined to this side in terms of talent supply.”

Xie Chun was actually a little disappointed when he heard this answer, but he couldn't question the opinion of the Executive Committee, otherwise the effect might be counterproductive.

After the meal, everyone took a rest in the restaurant. After consulting Li Lu's opinion, Bai Kesi asked Xie Chun to arrange a visit to the mining area.After all, the main purpose of this trip to Heitu Port is to show the North Koreans the level of coal mining and operation in Haihan. It is definitely not enough to just eat and drink. The business must be done well, so that the North Koreans cannot be upset about this temporary extra arrangement. Puzzled.

Xie Chun gave a few simple instructions, and soon the carriages and cavalry guards outside were ready, and then everyone left the restaurant and drove to the mining area.It is only two or three miles from the urban area to the mining area, and it only takes a moment to reach the destination by taking a car on the wide and flat official road.

After Li Lu got out of the car, he immediately realized the origin of the local place names. The soil under his feet seemed to be stained with ink, and everything he could see was pure black.The so-called black soil refers to the scene in front of you.

The scene in the mining area is actually very similar to what Li Wei saw in the Shilu Iron Mine. A huge funnel-shaped pit was also dug out on the ground. The circles of spiral mining work faces in this large pit with a diameter of hundreds of feet have been continuously to the bottom of the pit.The process of transporting the coal mined from the pit to the top of the pit is the same as the Shilu Mine, using several steam-powered hoists to pull it to a high place.This kind of mechanical device is undoubtedly much more efficient than manpower or animal power. The coal-loaded car bucket goes up and down the pit wall track and back and forth, which is much faster than people walking empty-handed.

Like this kind of pit, there are three other pits adjacent to it as far as Li Luo can see. These four pits are lined up in pairs. If you look down from the air, it should form a huge "Tian" character structure .Li Lu roughly estimated the number of miners working in the mine in front of him. There are about 800 people. If the other three mines have the same mining scale, there will be at least [-] miners working here at the same time.Considering that the continuous working time of this kind of heavy physical work, which is almost purely manual, is unlikely to last a whole day, and there may be a system of rotation and scheduling to ensure work efficiency, the actual number of local miners is likely to be one more. more than double.

Most of these miners are working barebacked and holding picks and shovels, either to dissipate heat or to prevent their clothes from being worn too much during the labor process. The coal dust covering their bodies covers their original skin color and appearance. A person is black and not autumnal, like a Kunlun slave.

It happened that Xie Chun was by his side, so Li Wei asked him to confirm his guess: "Master Xie, how many shifts are these miners in the local area, or is it just a group of people working hard?"

Xie Chundao: "We are divided into two shifts here, with noon as the boundary, three hours each. Don't think that the working hours of each shift are not too long, but each miner team has corresponding mining tasks. If the task cannot be completed within the time, part of the corresponding reward will also be deducted."

In fact, the work tasks of the miners are very heavy, and there is not much room for them to paddle in the three-hour working time. Drain the strength of the miners.If you don't work hard enough, it is very likely that your team will not be able to complete the task.Of course, if the team's ability is strong enough to exceed the task, then the corresponding bonus will be given in proportion.Arranging only two shifts is not because Xie Chun is so kind, or considering that the mining cost of the night battle will be relatively high, but because the number of local miners is limited, and there is no condition to arrange more shifts for rotation.

This kind of open-pit coal mine is much less risky than tunnel-type coal mines where holes are drilled underground, but some occupational diseases of miners are still unavoidable. Injury, respiratory disease and lung disease are all high rates among miners.Therefore, although the income of these miners is good, in fact, what they earn is a certain degree of hard work.

Of course, for those people who need to make ends meet and don’t have any special skills, being a miner in Heitu Port is a pretty good job. It’s tiring, but the working hours are not too long, and the income is enough to support a family. There is an official housing allocation, and one meal can be provided every day in the mine. It is impossible for most of them to find a better job than this.

Even miners who want to get rid of this job are mostly pinning their hopes on the next generation.Xie Chun specially brought in teachers from Danzhou, and established a local school for the miners' families, allowing the miners to send their children to read and write.If there are more outstanding seedlings, there will be officials who will bear the cost and send them to Danzhou or even Sanya to enroll and receive better education.

It's not that Xie Chun wants to create a good and benevolent personality for himself, but that he knows that if he wants to vigorously develop industry, it is far from enough to rely on a large number of pure manual laborers. There must be enough people who have accepted the basic culture. Education, industrial workers who can read and write and have a certain learning ability, can support the labor demand in the industrial age.If Black Earth Port can train more educated workers, at least the use of steam equipment can be further expanded, and there is no need to restrict the use of steam equipment in the production process due to the shortage of technicians.

What's more, Xie Chun has always been concerned about industrial upgrading. To develop the coal-related chemical industry in Heitu Port, it seems that it is very difficult to completely rely on Sanya to provide professional talents. Xie Chun must also try to train some personnel by himself.Although it is impossible to create a group of chemical experts out of thin air in a short period of time, at least there must be a group of technicians who have a cultural foundation and can quickly take up jobs after short-term training.

What Li Min is interested in is mainly how to organize production here, because the coal mines in the Datong River Basin in China will soon be mined. This large coal mine that has been operated by Haihan for nearly ten years is obviously an excellent model.There is actually nothing to say about the mining technology. Even if it is as advanced as Haihan, it still relies mainly on manual excavation, but a large amount of steam equipment is used in the transportation link.Although North Korea does not have a steam engine, it is feasible to use manpower to make up for this part of the gap.

After obtaining the permission of Bai Kesi and Xie Chun, Li Mo asked Xie Chun to find several foremen and asked them some details about the mining work.However, these foremen are all from Guangxi, and they don't speak Haihan Mandarin very well, and Li Mo can't understand Guangxi vernacular, so Xie Chun has to temporarily act as an interpreter.

What Li Lue mainly wants to know is how these teams divide and cooperate to complete the production tasks, and some problems they think need to be paid attention to during the mining process.These are all the details that were not covered in Xie Chun's explanation, but Li Mo thinks that some understanding will help the operation of coal mines in his country. These foremen who have been working on the front line for many years are undoubtedly the best research objects.

Xie Chun heard Li Luo's question, and couldn't help admiring the intentions of the son of North Korea. He could see that the other party didn't come here for a formality, but really wanted to understand the detailed operation here, and even wanted to use the experience of Heitu Port. brought back to North Korea.

However, since Bai Kesi did not express anything in particular, Xie Chun would not obstruct Li Min's request in any way. He also knew from the newspaper that there are currently many ongoing industrial cooperation projects between Haihan and North Korea, and the coal mine is probably one of them. one.The obvious purpose of arranging for North Koreans to visit Heitu Port is to allow them to learn from Haihan's successful experience.But Xie Chun didn't expect Beks to have reservations, and he didn't tell him the real reason for arranging this temporary trip.

It's not that Bai Kesi can't trust Xie Chun, but that he doesn't want to spread the unverified news further. After all, whether the incident in Changhua was a premeditated attack or a misjudgment caused by the nervousness of the security department depends on further evidence. It was not easy to say before.Bai Kesi didn't want Xie Chun to think that he was too nervous, and temporarily changed the itinerary of the son of Joseon because of an unconfirmed attack.

After the visit to the mine that afternoon, the group returned to the port in a carriage according to Xie Chun's arrangement, and boarded the boat again to go to sea.But their destination is not far away, it is a small island near Heitu Port, which is now Xie Chun's private territory.

In addition to the manor where Xie Chun's family lived on the island, he also built some special facilities, such as a 25-meter-long swimming pool, a basketball court made of cement with hardened ground, a five-a-side football field, And a two-meter-wide jogging fitness trail around the entire estate, just like a seventeenth-century version of a private sports center.

(End of this chapter)