Take a plane to the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 359 The Opening of an Era

What to do with these things?
Now let the men build it?
Three words, impossible!
So, although it doesn't play a big role, in general, the construction of the Dalinghe Bridge can also accumulate some experience, at least to ensure that the lowest mistakes will not be made when the bridge is repaired next time: such as broken piles , schedule arrangement, cross-construction control, etc.

The Daling River Bridge is not big. In modern society, even the smallest contractor can complete it with a few people. However, Zhu Changyuan still mobilized all the architects, designers, and surveyors on Riyue Island. Personnel, construction workers, and even Lao Jiang came to observe and learn.

It's also one of the few opportunities to learn.

Even Zhu Changyuan himself went to the scene to study for a period of time every day.

However, the task on him is arduous, the courage on his shoulders is too heavy, and things are busy, it is impossible to hang him in one place.

He has one more thing to do: make steel!

According to the current construction schedule, there will be more than one month's time, except for the Dalinghe Bridge, the rest of the entire Fujin Railway can be installed with tracks.

But now, the steelmaking plant has just been commissioned and has not yet produced even a kilogram of steel.

From ancient times to the present, from backwardness to development, the stages of steelmaking can be roughly divided into three types.

The first is the ancient steelmaking method, which is also called the art of iron smelting in Chinese.

This method, to put it bluntly, is to collect iron ore from the mountain, put it in a special container, and heat it with charcoal or coal blast. When the temperature reaches [-] degrees, the iron becomes semi-molten. state, after removing some magazines, you can get what the ancients called iron.

The ancients also called this kind of iron wrought iron. In fact, from the perspective of modern society, it is still pig iron.

Not only the carbon content in it is high, but also the impurities are terribly high, and it is very brittle. If this kind of iron is used to make a knife and gun, the ductility is very low and it is easy to break.

Therefore, the swords of the ancients had to be hammered repeatedly on the basis of this smelted iron to remove most of the impurities in it, so that they could become iron with a slightly better quality.

This kind of iron that has been hammered repeatedly can make good weapons.

The second method of steelmaking is indigenous steelmaking.

How to practice?
It's very simple. After the iron ore is mined, it is heated in an earthen furnace. The temperature is of course much higher than in ancient times, and the iron ore is directly melted into molten iron containing impurities.

Because the melting points of impurities and iron elements are different, they are separated out. In this way, most of the impurities can be removed, so that only iron elements remain, and there are other impurities that are difficult to remove, such as manganese, phosphorus, sulfur, etc.

Of course, phosphorus and sulfur are harmful impurities.

Generally speaking, the steel produced by this method is better than the steel produced by the first method in ancient times. However, it is generally difficult to meet the requirements.

For example, during the "*****" period, China produced 2000 million tons of steel a year, which was obtained by this kind of folk-style steelmaking. As a result, a lot of resources and forests were wasted, and the steel was not up to standard .

The third method of steelmaking is the steelmaking method of modern society.

Iron ore is first crushed and melted to obtain pig iron.

Then the pig iron is refined for the second time to remove harmful impurities and reduce the carbon content to less than 2%, and even add some beneficial elements such as manganese to increase the content, and finally make all kinds of pig iron. required steel.

This kind of steel is the steel that is often used in modern society, such as steel bars, steel plates, steel for rails, and so on.

Zhu Changyuan's steelmaking furnace is basically between the second and third types, and it is close to the third type.

That is to say, although he can produce basically qualified steel, for example, it is definitely enough to make rails or something, and it is basically fine to make construction steel, but to make that kind of high-strength prestressed steel strands, I am afraid It won't work.

"My lord!"

Dennis spoke unproficient and extremely blunt Chinese, and said to Zhu Changyuan: "Everything is ready and we can start."

"kindness!"

Zhu Changyuan nodded, waved his hand, and ordered: "Start, steelmaking!"

"Buzz!"

Various machines are started, and then the loader loads the iron ore that has been crushed long ago on a special conveyor, and then the iron ore will be transported into the steelmaking furnace for heating.

After this process, pig iron is produced.

Pig iron still contains a lot of carbon, so pig iron is brittle in nature.

The pig iron is returned to the furnace after secondary processing, and together with the burning coke, the carbon element in it is oxidized and reduced, and the harmful elements such as phosphorus and sulfur in it are also oxidized.

In the end, a crimson molten iron was formed, which flowed into the trenches prepared earlier, cooled and formed into various shapes.

The formed rail began to cool slowly according to the size provided by Zhu Changyuan, and then it was delivered to him immediately: a straight, 30-meter-long I-shaped rail.

"Dangdangdang!"

Zhu Changyuan tapped the I-beam lightly with a hammer, and the sound was quite crisp.

From the outside, there is not much difference between the I-beam and the railway track in modern society, but Zhu Changyuan knows that there is still a quality difference, which should not be small.

But what's the matter? Lao Tzu's rails only play the role of carrying loads, and don't transmit signals. As long as they are strong and malleable, they will not be brittle when pressed by heavy trucks.

"Okay, that's it."

Zhu Changyuan pointed to the long steel rail in front of him, and said: "Now we are going all out to produce this kind of steel rail, with a section every 30 meters. Except for the connecting plate, we don't want to produce anything else."

Now other steel materials are not needed, and the most urgent need at the moment is this kind of track.

After all, after one month at most, the ballast on the entire Fujin Railway can be paved, and the reinforced concrete sleepers below are almost prefabricated. The next thing is to lay the track.

Once these rails are produced, steel mills can also mass-produce a series of other steel products such as steel plates, steel pipes, and steel bars.

At the same time, it also means that the construction of the world's first steel plant has been completed.

Although, this steel mill may not produce as much output as a workshop in later generations.

But, so what, except for the steel factory of Lao Tzu, the whole world may not be able to produce so many steel factories in a year.

After Britain entered the industrial revolution, the annual steel output was only [-] tons, but in this way, they developed the earliest machinery industry in the world, leading the progress of the whole of Europe and even the Americas.

The results of it?
Relying on the mere annual steel output of more than 1 tons, it was able to dominate the world and plundered most of the colonies on the earth, known as the "Empire on which the sun never sets."

It can be seen from this that the rise of a country has a huge demand for steel.

It can be said that no matter what kind of basic industry it is, it cannot do without the prerequisite of steel.

For example: machinery manufacturing industry, transportation industry, ocean voyage industry, military industry, shipbuilding industry.

How can we do without steel?
Moreover, no matter whether it is a building or other structures, none of the real giants that look super big can leave the steel industry.

Just like those of later generations: high-rise buildings, aircraft carriers, large ships, trains, automobiles, and even launch vehicles and space stations.

Steel is the foundation, not only the foundation of all industries, Zhu Changyuan even issued such an assertion: in the future, the steel industry should be the foundation of the entire nation.

Now, due to the mass production of train tracks, there is no energy left for other research.

Once the rails were produced, he was ready to have the steelworks produce a great deal of other industrial steel, especially for the machinery industry.

This is the basis.

With machinery, you can let your people start researching diesel engines, and let them research and develop generators, motors, etc. by comparing their own small generators.

Moreover, if possible, Zhu Changyuan can also reveal to them some flight principles of the aircraft, and can tell them the knowledge of fluid mechanics in advance.

In other words, from the first steel produced by the steel factory on Riyue Island, the entire parallel world has declared that it has entered the steel age and the industrial age.

Think about England in history, how they relied on a small island country to dominate the whole world, and spread their colonies all over the northern and southern hemispheres. The national flags of all the colonies are planted, and the sun can shine at all times .

Thinking about it makes my blood boil.

"I want to do better than what they do!"

Zhu Changyuan shook hands. For him, he has a good foundation and foundation.The most important thing is, I have a super cheat in my hand, with this big killer, can't it compare to your little Britain?

"Dennis!"

Waking up Dennis, who was closest to him, watching strands of molten iron flowing out of the blast furnace, and then getting into the mold to become railroad tracks, Zhu Changyuan continued to say: "You guys did a good job, Starting today, let's work together to change the world."

"In the future, I want you to use steel to build large ships, use steel to build skyscrapers, and use steel to build invincible armored chariots."

"Starting tomorrow, the steel plant will be handed over to the big government and they will manage it. You scientists, continue to develop other things, starting with machinery and generators."

"Yes, my lord!"

Dennis' eyes were full of excitement.

Since he came to Sun Moon Island, he has seen too many things that he has never seen before, and he has come into contact with infinite knowledge.Now, even if Zhu Changyuan doesn't give him any rewards, he is still willing to live on Riyue Island until he dies.

For these science-obsessed people, knowledge is more important than anything else.

"Also, a group of scientists from your side will enter our Sun Moon Island one after another today. Dennis, you have more and more people."

Zhu Changyuan said with a smile.

"Yes, it's all thanks to you, my lord." Dennis lost no time in flattering Zhu Changyuan.

"Do it well." Zhu Changyuan narrowed his eyes and said thoughtfully: "Follow me, and together with me, create an unprecedented era of steel."

(End of this chapter)