Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 575 Industrial Chain (Part 1)

The summer solstice has just passed, and the temperature has already started to rise.

Meanwhile, the Liu's sawmill in Shanyang Fort (now North Vancouver) seemed to be boiling with the temperature. The factory was filled with sounds different from usual, a steady, powerful, and seemingly boundless roar.

It was no longer simply a matter of exhausting breaths from human labor, nor was it the water-powered saw being constrained by the gurgling of seasonal water flow and the occasional weak groans during the dry season.

The two newly installed steam engines, like two tamed steel behemoths, were spewing white smoke mixed with coal dust, transmitting surging power to several huge reciprocating saws in the factory area through thick belts and drive shafts.

Hard cedar and spruce logs are easily sliced ​​open by these roaring steel and saw blades, like a hot knife through butter, turning them into neat planks and square timbers, far more efficient than the water and manpower of the past.

Liu Wanquan stood beside one of the steam engines, his bronze face glowing slightly in the firelight.

He stretched out his rough, large hand and felt the scorching heat just inches from the cylinder shell. His eyes were filled with pride and emotion, but also concealed a fierce determination to forge ahead.

"Old Liu, this iron thing is really powerful!" Zhao Pingyang, his partner of many years in business, came over and looked at the regularly moving machine parts with a mixture of excitement and fear. "This is so much faster than when we relied on water and manpower to pull it. Look at that red cedar tree, it's so thick. In the past, it would take several strong laborers half a day to saw it. Now, it's turned into planks in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

Liu Wanquan nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the busy workers, and said in a deep voice, "Hmm, it's good stuff. But this machine consumes a lot of coal. In a day, it swallows half a truckload of coal, like a glutton. From now on, we need to keep a close eye on the coal supply."

"Oh, and also, tell everyone to be careful when operating it. This iron thing doesn't know how to be gentle, so be careful not to hurt anyone."

"Don't worry, we've signed a long-term contract with the Fenzhou Coal Mine and paid a deposit, so the arrangements are secure! As for safety regulations, we've been talking about them for a while now, and we wouldn't dare to be careless," Zhao Pingyang quickly replied.

Liu Wanquan grunted in agreement and said no more.

He walked to a pile of freshly sawn cedar planks, gleaming with a golden sheen, and reached out to touch the smooth cut surfaces, his eyes somewhat dazed.

Eight years ago, he was a foreman who had just retired from the army and was assigned to a government-run sawmill in Shunde County (now Vancouver).

Back then, who could have imagined that a veteran who only knew how to swing an axe and pull a saw would be where he is today?
Over the course of two years, he learned management and accounting in the factory, and he also came to understand the enormous potential of the timber industry.

The Jinchuan area is full of precious trees. The Qiming Island headquarters builds ships, various settlements build houses, mines need pit timber, and every household needs furniture. What can be done without wood?

So, he gritted his teeth, took out all his retirement pay and savings, and gritted his teeth to borrow five hundred yuan from Xinhua Development Bank. He then took a few trusted old brothers and came to the newly built Shanyang Fort.

"Liu Wanquan, are you crazy? You're betting your entire fortune in this desolate wilderness?" a former colleague advised him.

“I’m not crazy,” Liu Wanquan said, looking at the wide bay and the endless forests on both sides. “The timber here is good, the waterways are convenient, and the people have a great need for it. What we lack is the strength to split and saw it apart.”

That's right, what he was interested in was the dense, undeveloped forests and excellent water transport conditions.

Starting a business is difficult. In the beginning, the factory was a simple wooden shed, and there was only one water-powered gang saw on the operating table. During the dry season, it had to stop working.

There were fewer than ten workers. They had to do everything: logging, transportation, and processing. They were covered in sawdust all day long, and their hands were blistered and eventually turned into hard calluses.

But thanks to the resilience he had developed in the army and the tricks he had learned in the government factory, he managed to pull through.

Four years ago, in order to regulate logging activities, the Xinhua government promulgated the Forestry Development Act, which allowed state-owned and private workshops to acquire government-owned public forest land for logging through leasing, requiring only a small rent and a royalty fee.

Therefore, he took the initiative to approach the colonization officials of Shanyangbao and rented 200 acres of forest land in the northern forest area for a rent of one thousand yuan per year and a franchise fee, thus ensuring a stable source of raw materials for the sawmill.

He also took advantage of the local Skomish people's familiarity with the forests, hiring them as temporary loggers and exchanging iron tools, cloth, and cash for high-quality logs, thus establishing a relatively harmonious cooperative relationship.

“Master, this cedar forest is wonderful. The trees are old and the wood is dense, perfect for making ship planks,” an old lumberjack said, pointing to a grove of giant trees in front of him.

“Mark them down and prioritize their felling. But remember, cut down the big trees and leave the small ones. Follow the forestry official’s instructions and cut them in intervals, leaving some for future generations as well,” Liu Quan instructed.

Despite his desire for maximum benefit, he dared not disobey the government's requirement for "sustainable" development in the slightest.

Once the trees are felled, transportation becomes another problem.

Huge logs are dragged to the riverbank by oxen and horses, and then "flowed" to the river bend near the sawmill during the spring flood season, where they are scooped up one by one with long iron hooks.

Liu Wanquan often stands on the shore, watching the logs collide and float in the water, just like the ups and downs of his career.

The transition from pit sawing to water-powered sawmills built using stream power was a leap forward.

Today, the transition from water power to steam power represents another, even greater leap.

The steam engine not only meant a doubling of efficiency and production capacity—roughly estimated, the factory can now process more than four to five thousand cubic meters of timber per year, which may not be much in the entire Jinchuan area, but it is the largest enterprise in Shanyangbao—but also meant that production was no longer constrained by natural conditions.

"Boss, the purchasing manager from Shunde 'Furui' Trading Company is here. They want to see this batch of cedar planks, saying they're for use as bulkheads in the shipyard," Foreman Lao Ma reported as he walked over.

Liu Wanquan snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, saying, "Take him to the stockpile to see the batch of material designated as 'B'. It's specially selected high-quality red cedar, which is corrosion-resistant. The price will be as agreed beforehand, but we need to make it clear to them that we have many orders now, and the delivery time must be in accordance with regulations."

Old Ma responded and left.

Looking at the ever-increasing number of wooden planks in the stockpile, he calculated his profits for the year.

These timbers will be transported to various parts of Xinhua via roads that are constantly being repaired and expanded by the local government, or directly through the deep-water port of Shunde Bay.

Some were sent to various towns and settlements to become beams, floors, and furniture for houses.

Some were sent to the state and the Gold River mining area to support the mine tunnels or to be made into mine car bodies and wheels.

Others were sent to Shixing City, where, through the skillful hands of shipwrights, they were transformed into the keels and planks of seagoing vessels that cut through the waves.

Some of the planks used for building the log cabins were even transported to new territories further north, bringing a touch of civilization to that wild land.

The rapid rise of "Liu Ji" sawmill is a microcosm of the development of the timber processing industry in Jinchuan area and even the entire Xinhua industrial system.

As sawmills like "Liu Ji"—whether state-owned or privately owned—sprang up like mushrooms in Jinchuan, the efficiently produced planks and timber were channeled into various economic sectors like the lifeblood of industry, revitalizing the entire region's industrial ecosystem.

Timber processing enterprises, exemplified by Liu Wanquan's sawmill, cannot function without the support of upstream industries. Forestry management and logging were the first sectors to be stimulated, as professional logging teams required a large number of axes, cross-cutting saws, and wedges, which spurred the development of hardware and tool industries in Shunde County and Shanyangbao.

In the Shunde Hardware Tools Factory, the furnace fires burn all day long, and the clanging of hammering metal echoes the roar of the sawmill, as various logging and processing tools are forged and repaired.

The way the river "carried" timber also prompted the local settlement government to continuously dredge the river and build simple water conservancy facilities on the Jinchuan River and its tributaries to facilitate the collection and distribution of timber.

Land transportation relies more and more on cattle and horses, which indirectly promotes animal husbandry and forage cultivation in the surrounding areas.

With sawmills and other processing enterprises as the core link, their products have also directly spawned numerous secondary processing industries.

Next door to "Liu's" sawmill, "Zhou's Timber Workshop" is also thriving.

The craftsmen planed and spliced ​​the high-quality cedar boards produced by "Liu Ji" and tied them together with iron hoops to make wooden barrels of varying capacities.

"Boss Zhou, we need these fish pickling barrels urgently, the shipping schedule is tight!" a businessman from the seafood processing workshop urged.

"It'll be ready soon! Thanks to Liu's timely supply of boards, they're all top-quality cedar, not easy to rot, and have the right flavor!" Boss Zhou replied while checking the seal of the barrel.

These wooden barrels were not only used locally to hold pickled salmon, but were also exported to the main island of Qiming Island and even further afield to hold wine and dried goods, becoming the lifeblood of trade.

In the furniture workshops, artisans use different types of wood to create everything from simple tables and chairs for ordinary immigrants to carved beds and wardrobes customized for wealthy urban residents.

In the tool workshops, thousands of tool handles and wooden plow components were produced and supplied to farms, mines, and households.

The largest downstream industry is undoubtedly shipbuilding.

Qiming Island Shipyard is one of the largest customers of "Liu Ji" sawmill, and has a great demand for cedar keels that are tens of meters long and oak ribs with just the right curvature.

Even in Shanyangbao itself, some docks for building small fishing boats and short-distance oar sailing ships have sprung up, which in turn has driven demand for related products such as nails, ropes, and canvas.

Processed timber products have penetrated into all aspects of economic life through sales networks.

The construction industry has always been a major consumer of timber in Xinhua.

Whether it was the increasing number of brick-and-wood houses in Shanyangbao and Shunde County, or the hastily built wooden houses in the new settlements in the north and east, all of them required wood for beams, pillars, floors, doors and windows.

The construction of bridges and wharves along the coast and rivers also relies heavily on sturdy wooden structures.

The booming mining industry is also heavily reliant on timber.

The gold mines of Jinsha River, the coal mines of Fenzhou, the iron mines of Jinshidao (now Tekesida Island), and the gypsum and limestone mines in the surrounding areas all required a large amount of mine support timber, mine cars, and railway sleepers.

To this end, "Liu Ji" sawmill has also set up a special production line to process standardized mining timber and supply it directly to the mining area.

In addition to the aforementioned related industrial chains, some of Xinhua's chemical industries also originate from forestry.

For example, tannins are extracted from hemlock bark and used in leather workshops to tan furs.

For example, some small, private soap factories specialize in collecting the ash from burning wood to extract potassium alkali for making cheap, homemade soap.

There are also timber processing companies around the shipyard that collect resin from pine forests and boil it down to make pine tar and asphalt, which are used for waterproofing ships, preserving wood, and lubricating.

A vast and complex industrial ecosystem is growing wildly and vibrantly within Xinhua, with timber processing at its core.

As the sun sets, it paints Shunde Bay (now Brad Bay) in a golden-red hue.

The dock area of ​​Shanyang Fort remains busy.

A sailboat fully loaded with lumber from the "Liu Ji" sawmill is setting sail for Qiming Island.

On the other side, workers unloaded barrels of pickled salmon, boxes of hardware, and bundles of wool-linen blended fabrics from the ship. These products were all related to timber products to varying degrees.

Liu Wanquan and Zhao Pingyang strolled on the slope outside the factory area, overlooking this increasingly prosperous land.

In the distance, smoke curls from the chimneys of a brand-new residential area, where another batch of new immigrants have just settled.

In my ears, there was the roar of the sawmill, the hammering of the blacksmith's shop, the shouts of the dockworkers, and the laughter of children coming from the school in the distance.

"Old Zhao, do you remember when we first came here? There were only trees and rocks, and you could hear wolves howling at night," Liu Wanquan said with emotion.

“How could I not remember?” Zhao Pingyang laughed. “Back then, who could have imagined that things would turn out like this! Now, Shanyang Fort has a road, a port, schools, a clinic, and even the opera troupe from our headquarters has performed twice. We’ve finally established ourselves here.”

"Yes, it's standing firm." Liu Wanquan nodded.

Not only did their settlement here stand firm, but their sawmill also became established.

Feeling carefree, he couldn't help but take a deep breath of the air, which was a mixture of sea breeze, wood scent, and coal smoke.

"Back then, we made a firm decision to get into timber processing, and we were right. This industry may seem like it involves dealing with wood, and it's a rough and tedious business. But look, it supports logging, transportation, and processing, and it also drives the blacksmithing, brick-making, shipbuilding, and barrel-making industries. Hehe, it even supports mining, fishing, and farming..."

He pointed to a huge Western red cedar in the distance, "See that? Just like that big tree, our sawmill is the root and trunk. Thanks to the good policies given by the government and the blessings of God, we have grown so many branches and leaves. This is what makes a forest that can shelter us from the wind and rain and thrive forever."

He turned to Zhao Pingyang, his eyes gleaming with hope: "As long as Xinhua's population continues to grow, new villages and towns keep springing up everywhere, more and more mines are being opened, ships are being built bigger and bigger, and people's lives are getting better and better, then our business can be like this cedar tree, sprouting new branches and new buds every year."

At this point, he couldn't help but grin: "At this rate, the money we earn will be like the spring floods of the Jinsha River, endless and continuous. A hundred years of wealth and prosperity for generations to come—it's not just a pipe dream!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Pingyang was overjoyed: "Damn it, I never thought I could make a fortune by cutting wood! In the future, if I have the chance, I must charter a boat back to the Ming Dynasty, and when I see familiar fellow villagers, I will throw a handful of silver dollars to them and experience what it feels like to be a big tycoon."

"Haha..." Liu Wanquan burst into laughter upon hearing this, startling the birds returning to their nests in the woods and attracting the workers in the distant sheds to peek out.

As the laughter subsided, Liu Wanquan patted Zhao Pingyang on the shoulder: "Alright! I'll go with you then! We'll not only scatter silver dollars, but also bring all the villagers from our hometown who can't afford to eat, so they can also come to Xinhua and live a better life."
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(End of this chapter)