Chapter 805 - The Steel Combine

Phase 3 of the steel system was an enormous project. Unlike the emergency-nature melting furnaces, small converters, and basic rolling equipment of Phases 1 and 2, Phase 3 would construct a steel complex unprecedented in this timeline. It would encompass every stage of steel production: ore dressing, iron smelting, steelmaking, and rolling. Not only would it dramatically increase steel output, but it would also produce the steel plates, strip steel, wire, and various structural sections common in the old timeline.

With a stable supply of quality steel, the production of special steels and alloy steels could be put on the agenda. With abundant steel, the bottlenecks constraining production scale in cement, transportation, construction, chemicals, and machinery could be broken. Industrialization across Lingao and even all of Hainan would become possible.

The sea wind tousled Ji Wusheng's hair. His wicker safety helmet sat on the table. Several key "generals" from the Construction General Company stood beside him, gesturing and pointing at the worksite. Beside them stood a folding table stacked with blueprint tubes and drawings held down by weights. A group of busy naturalized clerks, apprentices, and interns crowded around the table and surveying instruments, occasionally conferring in hushed voices.

Several soldiers carrying Minié rifles stood guard not far from the Elders. The young soldiers watched the Elders and the nearby steelworks construction site with expressions of wonder and reverence.

"Red Brand Harbor's conditions are quite complex. It'll take some work to use it as a port." The one speaking and gesturing was Meng De. His face was pale. He wore a civilian M65 field jacket with Fubo Navy major's epaulettes on his shoulders, making him appear bulkier than the others. Since being honorably wounded while salvaging the five-masted ship, Meng De had been convalescing and had even missed the military training mobilization of Elders during the Second Counter-Encirclement Campaign. He had only recently returned to duty. Given his physical condition, Chen Haiyang had recommended the General Affairs Office assign him a desk job that didn't require frequent sea voyages. So Meng De became the navigation instructor for the Fangshaodi Naval Petty Officer Class and the Director of Bopu Port Affairs, replacing Li Di—who had been transferred to the Naval Command as Chief of Staff.

Besides instructing naturalized sailors in operating motorized vessels, Meng De applied his expertise to port management and development.

"...Red Brand Islet is a basalt sea-erosion platform with good water depth conditions offshore—mostly over five meters. But inside Red Brand Harbor, coastal drift and silting have reduced the depth to just two to four meters." Meng De pointed to various positions around Red Brand Harbor. "Without dredging, this port's utility will be very limited."

"We don't have a dredger... but we could assemble one temporarily." Someone's gaze fell on an excavator at work. "Put an excavator on a floating barge and secure it—that should work."

Meng De nodded. "I've seen people do exactly that in river ports—no technical difficulty, just needs to be firmly secured. But the dredging depth here is considerable; I'm not sure the bucket arm is long enough. And if we overwork the hydraulic components, there's no way to replace them..."

"No need for a specialized bucket dredger," said Jiang Ye, the Machinery Sector's on-site representative. "Hydraulic excavators have only been around for so many years. In the past, construction equipment was powered by winches and wire ropes. Even in the 1970s, many large construction sites still had excavators like that."

With the Industrial Sector's manufacturing capability, building a dedicated dredger was no problem—they had steam engines and could manufacture centrifugal pumps. For immediate deployment, Jiang Ye proposed a simple bucket-type dredge using the iron-drum pontoons the Port Authority had in storage for assembling temporary floating docks, with a steam-powered bucket installed on top.

"Two pontoons, with a support frame spanning them. A clamshell bucket mounted in the middle. Wire ropes and winch control the bucket's lifting and opening," Jiang Ye explained his concept. "The biggest technical challenge is the clamshell mechanism, but the Venetians were building similar devices in the 16th century—with human-powered treadmills no less. We should be able to do better."

Meng De asked, "How soon can it be ready?"

"Three to five days," Jiang Ye said. "No shipbuilding required—just use existing equipment. The main thing is having the Machinery Plant fabricate a dredging bucket and the open-close control mechanism. Steam engines, wire ropes, and winches are all in stock. For mud transport, we can use the small barges built for the Nandu River—pair one with a small motorboat for towing."

Meng De nodded and glanced at Ji Wusheng. Ji Wusheng said, "If you think it'll work, I'm fine with it—you're the expert."

"I'm a 'brick expert,'" Meng De joked, then coughed several times. A female servant in work clothes hurried to drape a light wool overcoat over his shoulders.

"At present, vessels under a thousand tons should be able to enter Red Brand Harbor. Let's first survey the channel, mark suitable routes and anchorages. Then we'll build the ore-loading dock—or at least get a temporary unloading pier operational."

With a dock in place, the many large, heavy, oversized, and overlong pieces of equipment to be installed could be shipped directly ashore, rather than hauled by oxen on forty-eight-wheeled heavy flatbed carts as they were now.

A proposal had also been floated to lay railway tracks from Ma'ao to Bopu, but the calculations showed excessive consumption of wrought iron. After much deliberation, the Planning Commission couldn't find room for this extra expenditure—most of the steel reserve had already been committed to Ma'ao development, and stocks were running low. The conclusion: at most, factory-yard railways could be laid within the industrial zone.

Crawler tractors fitted with bulldozer blades and buckets were roaring not far off—Bai Yu's "Tractor Armored Corps" was excavating earthworks. A deep trench had been carved into the red soil, and many workers in work clothes—heads shaved, white triangular armbands on their sleeves marking them as "special laborers"—were at the bottom, laying stones. This was the development zone's main drainage channel. Industrial wastewater from various branch channels would flow into this main drain and be sent to the wastewater treatment plant. Of course, Ji Wusheng knew that Tian Jiujiu's so-called industrial wastewater treatment amounted to nothing more than multi-stage settling, aeration, and acid-base neutralization—given Lingao's industrial level, more sophisticated treatment was beyond reach.

The channel was both deep and wide—rowboats could pass through it—with service walkways along both sides for maintenance crews.

Water supply used large-diameter reinforced concrete pipes—to minimize contamination during transport. These pipes were buried in equally massive underground conduits, facilitating future inspection, replacement, and installation of additional pipes and cables. These conduits also had military significance—for covert infantry movement, for instance.

Since Lingao industry couldn't yet produce enough reinforced concrete slabs to cover the conduits, they would remain open for the time being.

Heavy industry consumed enormous amounts of water. Besides drawing from the nearby Ma'ao River, additional water was piped in from the Wenlan River. Tian Jiujiu was also planning a large-scale rainwater collection system for the development zone—dependent, of course, on the steelworks going into production soon.

In the distance, scaffolding rose high. A temporarily installed steam crane belched smoke as it hoisted wrought-iron trusses, assembling high-roofed factory buildings. That was the open-hearth steelmaking workshop under construction; the new converter workshop would be adjacent. According to the plan, once the blast furnace and steelmaking workshops were all operational, the converter and rolling-mill shops currently at the small steelworks along the Wenlan River would be relocated here. All the rolling equipment not yet installed would be fully assembled, officially establishing a rolling mill.

The place where bucket elevators and water tanks stood tall was the ore-dressing plant—most of its equipment had been brought from the old timeline: two ore-dressing machines, five crushers, and two breaking machines. In the future, iron ore that couldn't be processed on-site due to conditions would be sent here for dressing. It could also handle some non-ferrous metal ore processing.

The core of Ma'ao Steel Company—the largest and most difficult project, the blast furnace construction—was nearing completion. A ten-meter-tall blast furnace already stood erect. Being close to the coast, typhoon resistance was a critical concern. The furnace foundation had been built with Lingao's best cement-mixed reinforced concrete, sparing no expense. Around the furnace shell, reinforcing beams, columns, and anchor cables had been erected for added support.

Ma'ao No. 1 Blast Furnace had a volume of 125 cubic meters—technologically equivalent to 1880–1900 by old-timeline standards. For the Industrial Sector, it was an enormously challenging undertaking. Ji Wusheng, the only Elder who had actually been inside a blast furnace chamber and worked as a furnace operator, had become the indispensable technical lead for blast-furnace construction.

He was no longer just "Steel Plant Director." In a recent personnel appointment, his titles had become: People's Commissar of Metallurgical Industry under the Manufacturing Directorate, General Manager and Chief Engineer of Lingao Steel Company. A string of impressive titles couldn't help him overcome the array of challenges in building the steelworks: after all, no Elder had ever actually built a blast furnace or open-hearth furnace, and none had systematically designed, outfitted, and constructed a complete steel company. Beyond the materials in the Grand Library, everything in practice had to be figured out through trial and error.

"If not for the ready-made steel plant design documents and blueprints in the Grand Library, just this steelworks alone would have taken us ten years to build," Mei Wan remarked.

Ji Wusheng said, "Without those materials, we wouldn't even know where to begin. At least the first blast furnace is nearly complete now—once we can start smelting iron and steel, we'll be halfway there."

Note: The following 29 sections are technical chapters. Those not interested may skip them.

(End of Chapter)