Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 40 The location selection of the world’s largest steel company

Lu Bing took Wang Daoqiu out of the inner palace to supervise the blacksmith workshop. This time Lu Bing was more humane. Knowing that Wang Daoqiu could not ride a horse, he asked his men to prepare a large carriage. He and Wang Daoqiu rode the carriage out of the city together. .

Wanping County in the Ming Dynasty was located in the western suburbs of Beijing and was a subsidiary of Beijing. The word Wanping comes from the meaning of "Wanran is flat". Its jurisdiction included Xicheng District, Fengtai District, Shijingshan District, and Mentougou District, Haidian District.

The Yongding River passes through the middle of Wanping County. The Yongding River can be said to be the largest river flowing through Beijing. It is more than 650 kilometers long and has two upstream branches. The northern branch is the Yanghe River originating in Inner Mongolia, and the southern branch is the Yanghe River. It originates from the Sanggan River in Ningwu, Shanxi.The Yanghe River and the Sanggan River converge in Zhuguantun, forming the Yongding River.

Wang Daoqiu and Lu Bing sat in a carriage and arrived at the Yongding River in Wanping County. Facing the surging Yongding River, Lu Bing pointed to the endless deserted beach at his feet and said: "Jie Yuanlang, just now Lu understood what you said in the inner palace prison. But if we want to build an iron factory by the Yongding River, we may have to make our decision on these deserted beaches. Jie Yuanlang, look at these deserted beaches. Now Winter is about to enter the dry season, and it is twenty feet wide from the embankment to the water surface. When the Yongding River floods in July and August, these deserted beaches will be submerged by floods."

"We are building an iron factory by the Yongding River. If we want to expropriate the farmland by the river, the ministers in the court will definitely make a fuss. After all, the farmland by the river is the best irrigated land. Our government is based on agriculture. Ben, using irrigated land to build workshops is definitely asking for death! So if we want to build an iron factory here, we can only fill up these barren lands. After all, these barren lands are ownerless wastelands. To build these All you have to do is say hello to Wanping County Government."

"And the place where we are standing now, Lu thinks it should be the most suitable for building an iron plant. Look, Xie Yuanlang, the river here is nearly a hundred feet wide, and there is enough water. And this place is not far from the official road, and the traffic is It’s convenient, and it’s surrounded by endless farmland. When the iron factory is built here, the food and drink of the craftsmen in the iron factory will be provided by nearby farmers.”

What Lu Bing said is true, is it a feudal agricultural society?Arable land is fundamental, especially the irrigated land by the river, which is protected by the state. Therefore, the land for building the iron plant cannot be used for farmland near the river, but only for these deserted beaches.

As for the place chosen by Lu Bing, Wang Daoqiu looked behind him and saw that it was indeed the endless Beijing Plain, with convenient transportation and sufficient logistical support.This is an advantage, but it is also a disadvantage. The first disadvantage is the security issue. Wang Daoqiu, who is familiar with history, knows that in August of the 29th year of Jiajing, the Mongols would attack the walls of Beijing.And if the iron factory is built on the large plains on the outskirts of Beijing, isn't this just giving it to the Mongols?
As for people who say time travel can change history, why should they change history?If the Mongols' sabers are not allowed, let the emperor of Ming Dynasty and the civil and military personnel of the Manchu Dynasty deeply realize how rubbish the Ming army is now, how will the next step of military reform be carried out?And if we don't have a powerful army, how can we ever conquer the empire?
Therefore, although Wang Daoqiu felt guilty for the people around Beijing that his Mongolian compatriots visited Beijing in January four years later.But he felt that in this matter, he could only mobilize people to evacuate in advance. As for how many people could be saved by then, he could only do his best and listen to fate.

In addition to safety reasons, another reason why the iron plant cannot be built on the plains on the outskirts of Beijing is that Wang Daoqiu also took into account factors such as the climate in Beijing and the scale of the iron plant.To put it bluntly, this river beach is too small to accommodate his ideals.

After thinking about this, Wang Daoqiu looked at the topography on both sides of the Yongding River, and he had a preliminary plan in mind.So he said to Lu Bing: "Mr. Lu, the land you chose is very good. But you may not know exactly how big the iron plant we want to build is. Let me tell you this, Wang's heart is That iron factory's annual iron production should be several times, or even ten times, more than the current national iron production in the Ming Dynasty."

The imperial court of the Ming Dynasty collected 800 million kilograms of official iron per year, which was less than [-] tons in later generations' measurement units.However, the national iron output of Ming Dynasty can exceed [-] tons.Wang Daoqiu said that he wanted to build an iron factory with an output several times or even ten times that of the Ming Dynasty. This sounded like fantasy to Lu Bing.

So Lu Bing looked confused, stared at Wang Daoqiu and asked: "Jie Yuanlang, are you talking too much?"

"Is it big? Mr. Lu, I can tell you with certainty that there is definitely more than one red stone mountain in Xuanhua. As long as there are enough people, we will surround the red stone mountain and blow it up with explosives, and then people will go up to load the iron ore that was blown down. If it is transported by truck, tens of thousands of people can mine tens of millions of kilograms of iron ore in one day without any problem. Tens of millions of kilograms of iron ore can be used to smelt at least more than 400 million kilograms of iron, and our Ming Dynasty produces 800 million kilograms of iron a year. The amount of official iron collected by our iron factory is four or five days' output. Four or five days is equivalent to the amount of official iron collected by the imperial court in one year. What about that year?"

"The coal and limestone in Wanping in the west of Beijing alone are enough to support a very large iron factory. What's more, the two major tributaries of the Yongding River, the Yanghe River and the Sanggan River, and the counties on both sides are full of coal fields, limestone and coal fields. Clay for refractory bricks. With such unique conditions, why don’t we build an unprecedented large ironworks?”

Wang Daoqiu spoke of his ideals with sufficient evidence and impassioned enthusiasm.Lu Bing thought about it after hearing this. As long as the iron ore in Xuanhua is really huge, plus the coal and limestone in Wanping, it is indeed enough to support a very large iron plant.

Super large iron factory, super large iron factory, Lu Bing kept chanting these four words in his mouth. Suddenly he remembered what Emperor Jiajing said to him yesterday when he was in Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan.And why Emperor Jiajing insisted on seeing with his own eyes whether the red stone could produce molten iron.And if the red stone was really smelted into molten iron, why did Emperor Jiajing say he wanted to see the red stone mountain with his own eyes?

Got it, got it, when the emperor heard this yesterday, he should have had the same dream of a big iron factory as Wang Daoqiu does now!After all, if we can really control such a large iron factory, not only will we not have to worry about spending money in the future, but more importantly, the imperial power will have the support of steel from now on, which will be more stable.

Thinking of Emperor Jiajing's possible big steel plan, Lu Bing looked at the place he chose. It was indeed too small and there were potential safety risks.After thinking about this, Lu Bing hurriedly ordered his men to find two ships. He wanted to go up the river with Wang Daoqiu to re-select the site for the future iron factory.

In the densely populated plain area, it is not difficult to find a boat on the river. Lu Bing gave an order, and two groups of his men rode horses and quickly went in two directions to find a suitable boat.

After a while, Lu Bing's men ordered the boatmen to push seven or eight boats in front of Lu Bing for Lu Bing to pick.Lu Bing picked two large and clean boats and took Wang Daoqiu to the upper reaches of the Yongding River.

The reason why it goes upstream instead of downstream is because the lower reaches of the Yongding River are vast, densely populated plains.The upper reaches of the Yongding River are all mountainous areas. Mountainous areas are not only conducive to security, but also conducive to land acquisition.

After getting on the ship, Wang Daoqiu wanted to go back to the library to look up information, so he told Lu Bing that he had to go into the cabin to think about some things calmly, so that Lu Bing would not worry about him.Then he entered the cabin and his soul traveled back to the library.

In the library, Wang Daoqiu began to consult the geographical information of the Mentougou area in later generations.After a period of careful research, Wang Daoqiu set his sights on a place called Wangping Coal Mine.

According to historical records, the Wangping Coal Mine field extends to the Yongding River in the east, to the Muchengjian Coal Mine Industrial Square in the west, and to the cross road of Jiulong Mountain in the south.The coalfield runs six kilometers from east to west and five kilometers from north to south. The coalfield covers an area of ​​[-] square kilometers, and the coal here is the kind of coking anthracite that is easily buried and easily mined.

The information also said that the Wangping Coal Mine is not only beside the Yongding River, but also next to the Nanjian River. On the upper reaches of the Nanjian River, there is a Lujiashan limestone mine with amazing reserves.This means that coal and limestone, the three major raw materials for ironmaking, can be provided by this Nanjian River. The iron ore only needs to be transported from the Xuanhua Longyan Iron Mine.

After finding what he wanted in the library, Wang Daoqiu returned to the sixteenth century.

Because he was not sure about the changes in the place name in the past three or four hundred years, Wang Daoqiu walked out of the cabin and walked up to the boatman. With the purpose of trying to trick the boatman, he chatted with him: "What's the boatman's last name?"

"Hey, I'm not a noble person to ask. My surname is Chen. I am the second in the family. All my acquaintances call me Chen Laoer."

"Oh, it turns out to be Brother Chen! Then Brother Chen, how many years have you been running boats on the Yongding River?"

"Hey, noble people, don't call me villains like that. I can't afford it. You can just call me villain Chen Er. I am 15 years old and have been making a living on the Yongding River. In the blink of an eye, it has been 22 years."

"It's been 22 years, so you should be very familiar with both sides of the Yongding River. Then tell me, there are several big rivers in Wanping County that flow into the Yongding River. The ones that are more than ten miles long, the river surface More than ten feet wide."

"Oh, if you want to ask about the big rivers that flow into the Yongding River in Wanping County, there are really not many of them. No, there is Nanjiangou not far in front of you, which is more than ten miles long. It is abundant in July and August. At that time, the surface of the river was about [-] feet! So now it’s dry, it’s only [-] or [-] feet.”

Nanjiangou and Nanjianhe are only one word apart. This should be correct.After finding the place, Wang Daoqiu said to boatman Chen Laoer: "Boatman, the boat will stop in front of Nanjiangou."

"Okay, my lord."

After talking to boatman Chen Laoer, Wang Daoqiu went to the bow of the ship to chat with Lu Bing.

After traveling for more than ten minutes, the boat arrived at the intersection of Nanjian River and Yongding River. Boatman Chen Laoer followed Wang Daoqiu's instructions and stopped the boat at the mouth of the river. He shouted loudly to remind that the boat had arrived at the mouth of Nanjian River.

Standing on the boat, Wang Daoqiu pointed to the mouth of the Nanjian River and said to Lu Bing: "Master Lu, look, the river surface of this Nanjian ditch is only 30 to 150 feet wide now, and it can be more than [-] feet wide during the summer flood season. If we are here Two miles up from the mouth of the river, if we blast the mountains and build a dam to block the river, then at least [-] acres of flat land can be filled in these two miles of river. If we also count the surrounding gentle slopes, then we will If the stones above are dug out to fill the river, then the gentle slopes on both sides of the river can create another forty or fifty acres of flat land, which adds up to two hundred acres of flat land."

"There is also the Yongding River, the barren shoals that are exposed on both sides of the Nanjian River in the dry season. Then we can build another embankment, which can enclose at least a hundred acres of land. Then we can use these hundreds of acres of land. Acres of land, piles of iron ore, coke and waste slag.”

"As for building a dam, we can build the dam five feet high, trap the water in it, and keep the water level at about four feet in front of the dam. Then we can open two large water channels three feet up the mountainside on both sides. Usually, the water in these ditches is condescending and flows to our factory area by itself for our production and living use, without us having to work hard to lift the water. During the flash flood season in summer, the gates of the two ditches facing the Yongding River are opened to facilitate Flood discharge at external speed.”

"At the same time, we can also set up several gates in the middle of the dam, connect several water channels underneath, and install turbines in the water channels. Use the power of the water flowing straight down to turn the turbines, and then... Forget it, Mr. Lu , it may be too complicated for me to say this, so I asked Mr. Lu, have you ever seen hydraulic rice pounding?"

Lu Bing, who has lived in Zhongxiang on the Yangtze River in Hubei since childhood, has certainly seen this water-powered rice pounding.So when faced with Wang Daoqiu's question, he had some doubts: "Water power rice pounding, I saw it a lot when I was a child in Anlu. This thing is basically available in every village in Anlu! The emperor and I went to the countryside to play when we were young. When he saw that thing lifting and lowering itself, and knocking the rice underneath, the emperor called it a kowtow machine."

Head-eating machine!It’s quite vivid, Xiao Jiajing is such a talented person!Knowing that Lu Bing knew about this water-powered rice pounding, Wang Daoqiu breathed a sigh of relief. Since people knew about it, there was no need to explain the principle of this thing.So Wang Daoqiu continued: "Oh, it would be great if Mr. Lu knew about that thing! Then let me ask you, Mr. Lu, what if we replace the rice under the head-eating machine with red-hot cast iron?"

"Xie Yuanlang, do you mean to turn the water-powered rice into water-powered forging, just like a master blacksmith hammering into cast iron?"

"Master Lu is smart!"

"Oh, how smart is Lu! This is your great talent, Xie Yuanlang! Well, since this water power can pound rice, it can also be used to forge iron. Xie Yuanlang, you are so smart!"

Lu Bing received Wang Daoqiu's suggestion and immediately thought of the hydraulic forging machine. The principle was too simple.After all, our ancestors have been pounding rice for thousands of years.

(End of this chapter)