Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2224 North Sea ([-])

"This iron roller must weigh tens of thousands of catties?" On October 1693, 10, near the wharf of Yantai Port, Hu Zhigang stood on a high platform, looking at a giant iron roller in the center of Yantai Suburb Park in the distance, and murmured Said.

This giant iron mill has a long history. It is said that it was cast by Liu Jianguo and Captain Liu when he was in power. It was produced by the Heishui Iron and Steel Plant. I don’t know how much iron was imported from North Korea. It makes people feel shocked but also feels a pity: good Instead of making agricultural tools and weapons, iron made such a flashy thing.

However, from the perspective of pure propaganda, the positive effect of this giant iron mill is still relatively huge.First of all, its technical content is not low, and it needs a large mold. If it is done well, it also needs a certain precision, which is beyond the reach of people from other countries.Secondly, this declares the wealth of the East Coast and the huge iron production. Even the Heishui Iron and Steel Works, a small iron factory that does not appear to be popular in the local area, its steel output is not as purely handmade or semi-finished as in several countries in mainland China. What can be compared with the traditional manual iron smelting method - although the raw materials are basically imported from North Korea, it really only takes a short time to remelt and smelt, which reflects the power of the industry.

Hu Zhigang is not an ordinary person. He has been traveling with his uncle for many years, and his knowledge is extraordinary, but he will also be impressed by the temperament of the giant iron roller in the park.He once collected some information about iron smelting for Hu Yong (of course it was in the east bank control area), and learned words including slag, coking coal, gas, temperature, etc., but the people on the east bank kept their information on it It was very strict, and over the years only bits and pieces of news had spread to the outside world, so Hu Zhigang and Hu Yong's uncle and nephew tried their best to figure out the mystery.But they also vaguely feel that China's iron-making method is too rough and ancient, and their understanding of steel is relatively superficial. The iron industry has never been able to progress and expand.

Sighing softly, Hu Zhigang stepped onto a steamboat.This is a regular liner between Yantai and Dandong. It is run by the shipping department of the Bank of Taiwan. The tonnage is about a thousand tons. It is an old ship that was half sold and half given to them by the South China Sea Shipping Company.

Although it is an old ship, the Bank of Taiwan has carried out a life-extending overhaul after it bought it. The current condition of the ship is not bad, and it can withstand the strong wind and waves in the Liaohai Sea in October.The return route of this ship is slightly different from that of the outgoing journey. When returning, it departs from Dandong Port, stops at Haizhou Port in the Kingdom of Korea, Jeju Island under the control of the East Coast, and finally returns to Yantai.Therefore, there are quite a few North Koreans among the passengers on this ship. They basically came to the east bank from Dandong, either to escort goods, or to learn all kinds of knowledge, or simply to travel here (this is a kind of wealth and leisure) aristocratic class), intending to return to North Korea on this flight.

Hu Zhigang couldn't speak Korean, but these North Koreans not only talked to each other, but also took the initiative to talk to people from the east coast. They didn't avoid too many words, so Hu Zhigang knew some things about North Korea.In particular, a North Korean businessman boasted in front of his partners on the east coast, saying that the production of pig iron in North Korea has increased year after year, and has doubled in more than ten years. This made Hu Zhigang almost pale with shock.

The small kingdom of Korea may have a population of less than [-] million. It has been looking up to the Central Plains Dynasty in the west for thousands of years. Now it is making such rapid progress?Doubling the output of pig iron in more than ten years, even the Qing Dynasty, which had a huge demand for steel during the war, could not do it.If they continue to develop like this, will their steel output surpass that of the Qing Dynasty in a few decades?Considering North Korea's rich coal and iron resources, this is not impossible!

Hu Zhigang's mood suddenly fell, not only because of the Qing Dynasty, but also because North Korea might surpass China.He listened more carefully to the bragging of the North Korean businessman, and gradually learned that North Korea has recently discovered several new iron mines, all of which have an iron content of more than 50%, so the amount of iron ore and pig iron exported to Heishui will continue in the future. increase.The businessman also mentioned that they adopted the technology designed by the East Coast technicians to use the burning waste gas to generate water vapor and heat the blast furnace, which can save millions of catties of coal every year. This made Hu Zhigang even more disappointed. This North Korean is a God.

Of course, he did not know that some of the technologies transferred to North Korea by the people on the east coast were outdated technologies that had been eliminated long ago in the local area. Business.However, these so-called outdated technologies are undoubtedly a great supplement to North Korea's iron smelting industry, which greatly improved their original relatively primitive technology and became the first advanced iron smelting industry in the Far East except the east coast. country.

Now you can see that if you go to several important iron smelting towns in northern North Korea, because of the huge demand of the external market, there are many large and small iron smelting furnaces in the countryside.Whenever it was produced, choking smoke and flames covered the sky, and truckloads of standard-sized pig iron were transported to the port and sold to the east coast.The profits obtained, in addition to continuing to expand production, will also flow into related upstream and downstream industries, which greatly promotes the development of these industries and also promotes the development of society.

At least in those counties along the North Korean iron industry belt, the market is actually very prosperous.All kinds of restaurants and brothels stand everywhere, and the number of employees in the service industry is outrageous. All kinds of bosses spend a lot of money here, and the breath of money flows everywhere.In addition, in the Kaesong area in southern North Korea, because of the large-scale planting and export of ginseng and other medicinal materials, a considerable commercial market has also formed in the local area. And feet.

The person in front of me who is negotiating with a partner on the east bank is from the northern iron industry zone. He has been to Denglai and Ningshao several times, and he admires the east bank very much (even to the point of being too flattering), but he is not interested in The Qing Dynasty despises them in various ways, because he thinks that the income level of most people in the Qing Dynasty may not be as high as theirs, although the living conditions of the workers in the North Korean iron smelting factories are not so reassuring.

But North Koreans are like this.They were oppressed by the Central Empire for 1000 years before. Although overall they are relatively submissive, who knows what they think in their hearts?With their extreme personality, maybe why they hate them in their hearts.After the Battle of Baoen County was defeated by the people on the east coast decades ago, they were forced to accept political and economic reforms. Now it seems that they have achieved some results. At least the level of technology and living standards have increased a lot.Then they looked back at the Qing and Shun countries, which were under the weight of the war, and a sense of the ambition of the villain suddenly filled their chests. Coupled with their extreme personalities, they suddenly changed from The previous extreme low self-esteem has turned into extreme arrogance, and I have begun to look down on people in mainland China.

Hu Zhigang watched coldly from the sidelines and was fully aware of the ugliness of the North Korean businessman, but now he is too lazy to ponder the inner world of these North Koreans.What he cares more about is that the country of North Korea has actually started drastic changes under the rejuvenation rule of the people on the east coast, and forcibly forged its own path. This seems to have some reference value for the Qing Dynasty.However, the area and population of North Korea are only equivalent to a province in the Central Plains. Their successful reforms do not mean that the Qing Dynasty can also successfully carry out reforms. If something goes wrong in the future, it is likely to cause chaos in the world. It's troublesome.

The ship continued to move forward, which North Korean businessman would have finished talking with his partner, and the two laughed and went to the restaurant.Hu Zhigang lay on the side of the railing, looking at the rough sea outside, his thoughts were racing for a while.He left Yantai for Dandong this time, in fact, to go to Shenyang to complete some private affairs of Feng Yu, the person he served and the Zhizhou Zhizhou who was born in the Han Army Banner.Because the Qing Dynasty has signed a peace agreement with Denglai, Ningshao and other feudal clans and opened their borders to each other, Hu Zhigang, a member of the Qing Dynasty, can also operate in the territory of Denglai Fan, including Liaodong, as long as the formalities are complete. Due to the situation, the general Qing people can only move around in designated areas and cannot stay for too long—and from Shandong to Shenyang, to be honest, it is more convenient to take a boat to Liaodong and then go overland.

Hu Zhigang was very happy on this journey, but after seeing the huge iron roller in Yantai Port and listening to the North Korean merchants on the ship talk about the development of North Korea's iron industry, his mood suddenly became complicated.He felt that if his cousin Hu Yong and Feng Zhizhou knew about these things, they would be so surprised that they would be relatively silent.North Korea, a weak country that they have never paid attention to, has developed to this point without their knowledge, which has a great impact on their thinking.It is understandable that the Qing Dynasty could not defeat the Eastern Dynasty. After all, Westerners say that they are a first-class power, but what if they cannot even defeat North Korea?In the future, if the Dongguo people help Japan carry out reforms, will even the Japanese be defeated?How to explain this?

Hu Zhigang can basically conclude that if that kind of thing really happens, then the conservatives and Qing schools who are still powerful in the court will lose their power overnight, because no amount of rhetoric can conceal the paleness of reality.Thinking of this, Hu Zhigang felt that after he finished the work at hand and returned to Haizhou, could he think of a way to go to North Korea?Look at the changes that are taking place over there, and what can be used as a reference for my Qing Dynasty.It is said that Feng Yu and Feng Zhizhou will be promoted to the prefect of Huai'an in the next year. It can be seen that the holy family is prosperous. If many things are approved by him, it basically means that they have entered the sight of the high-level and even the emperor. This is more important than anything else!

(End of this chapter)